Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — A company hoping to develop an oilfield waste landfill on property in south Adams County expects to apply to the county to do so sometime this week, a spokesperson said Monday.

Before such a landfill can be developed, the Adams County Board of Supervisors would have to amend its current solid waste management plan to allow for the landfill, said Aimee Blount, who is responsible for business development for Complete Oilfield Disposal.

Complete Oilfield Disposal is owned in part by District 2 Supervisor Kevin Wilson, who also owns the 400 acres off of U.S. 61 and Shieldsboro Road where the landfill is proposed to be located. That location happens to be directly across the roadway from the Waste Management-owned and operated solid waste disposal facility.

The proposal for a solid waste landfill has drawn opposition, including from Millicent Graning, who lives in the area. Graning has spoken against the landfill and Wilson’s involvement in it since it was first proposed in October 2023.

County Attorney Scott Slover said today at the meeting of the Adams County Board of Supervisors that after the county receives that application, the Board of Supervisors will set a public hearing to gather comments from residents on the proposal.

“What people don’t understand is that we can’t formally go to the Department of Environmental Quality until we have the board’s approval to adjust the local solid waste management plan,” Blount said. “The only time I have been before the Adams County Board of Supervisors was simply to receive a letter as an attachment to our application saying no regulations or rules exist in Adams County that would restrict this particular site as a landfill.”

The county’s solid waste management plan details how any waste generated in the county is to be disposed.

“The local solid waste management plan is lengthy. While I’m not an expert at that type of plan, its goal from the county perspective is to be sure that municipal garbage is addressed. Not just oilfield waste, but construction waste, other kinds of waste. It should address all the waste for the county,” she said. “What we seek is an amendment to the plan the county currently works from to allow for oilfield waste. The county must see that the amendment is not an unnecessary addition or that it does not negatively impact the community.”

Blount said an enormous amount of work goes into the application for approval of a permit to operate an oilfield waste disposal landfill, or any landfill for that matter.

“There are drawings and construction plans, analysis, equipment required — but until we get through this piece of the whole equation, we can’t even go to the MDEQ,” she said.

Blount said she understands some residents have concerns about the landfill and looks forward to an opportunity to answer questions from residents and from the supervisors.

“Our hope is to be able to do a presentation and make ourselves available to people who have questions. Once we can put the fear factor at bay, we hope people will understand the goal and purpose of the facility. The benefits locally would be substantial,” she said. “If Waste Management is viewed as a financial contributor in the community, our facility should be as well. We will no doubt bring in revenue and property tax dollars and jobs.”