| Sen. Brooks "Bigger is Better" McCabe's bill to increase the amount of garbage a McDowell County landfill can receive annually is dead.
It seems there's a $24 million dollar landfill in McDowell that has yet to receive garbage.
The bill that would have doubled the allowable monthly tonnage from 50,000 to 100,000 a month.
The landfill developer says the additional tonnage is needed to make the landfill financially viable.
The garbage would mostly come from out-of-state, likely from the northeast.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Carrie Webster says there wasn't enough support to move the bill. The members weren't comfortable with approving more trash for a landfill that hasn't yet opened.
"You don't get bigger before you get better," Webster said.
Webster also said delegates had concerns about how that much trash would impact the drinking water in McDowell County.
The $24 million was spent with the intention of bringing in out-of-state garbage.
McDowell County Delegate Clif Moore says he's disappointed the landfill bill failed to get the necessary support.
"We have a $24 million dollar asset in the county and there's only three things that can happen; they walk away from it, they operate it as it is or they sell it."
The 200-acre landfill received its final permit from the state DEP last November, but it's yet to take in any garbage.
Several years ago there was a major effort to build landfills for millions of tons of out-of-state garbage as economic development for the state.
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