Bob Bullard speaks during a TCEQ meeting on the proposed Hawthorn Park Landfill expansion that people in Houston’s Carverdale neighborhood opposed at Sterling Banquet Hall on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Houston.
Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
Signs of notice to obtain a solid waste permit placed near the Hawthorn Park Landfill Monday, June 27, 2022 in Houston.
Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
Harris County plans to sue the owners of a landfill near Spring Branch that butts up against homes in the historically Black Carverdale area after years of concerns and a successful community effort to block its expansion.
Abbie Kamin, newly sworn in as county attorney, announced her office’s plan to sue in federal court at a Monday evening meeting led by longtime activists against the Hawthorn Park Landfill.
The county’s notice of its intent to sue cites what it says are ongoing problems at the landfill, alleging the owner USA Waste of Texas Landfills “continues to exhibit conditions that are not associated with a properly operating Type IV facility, including methane generated above the regulatory limit at the property boundary and elevated metals and chemicals in groundwater.”
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A spokeswoman for USA Waste, a subsidiary of Houston-headquartered industry giant Waste Management, said the company strives to be a good neighbor.
DIVE DEEPER: Waste Management withdraws plans to expand Hawthorn Park Landfill
“Hawthorn Park Landfill is engineered with environmental protection systems specified by government regulations,” Lisa Doughty, Waste Management’s public affairs director, said in a statement. “For decades it has provided compliant and responsible disposal services for communities, businesses and industries serving Harris County.”
Myra Jefferson has a different take. She opened Monday evening’s meeting recalling the community’s recent win against the dump site.
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Jefferson grew up in Carverdale and watched as Waste Management’s operations came in to her tight-knit community, triggering concerns over illness and contamination.
She was instrumental in the push that led to the company’s 2024 withdrawal of an application that would have let it add nearly 40 acres to the site and grow waste piles as tall as a 12-story complex. Kamin’s predecessor Christian Menefee, County Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Houston Mayor John Whitmire also joined that fight.
“Through collective grit, we made them walk away,” Jefferson told the crowd of longtime community members. “USA Waste withdrew their expansion application because we refused to back down, and that is a major victory that we shared together.”
But Kamin emphasized that the landfill is still considered active, even though the company has barely used it since it withdrew its expansion bid. That complicates the community’s push to close it for good.
“That’s part of the problem,” Kamin said. The company appears to be doing just enough to keep it open, which she said “prevents us from being able to consider it legally as a closed site” — a status that would pave the way for capping, testing, and remediation.
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It also means Waste Management could reapply for a state permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to expand at any time, something residents are acutely afraid of. They already see floodwaters often flow from the site onto their properties and worry the problem would worsen if waste is piled higher. There are also health concerns.
“Everybody has a loved one who’s dealing with cancer,” Bishop Calvin Smith told Kamin and other elected officials, including City Council Member Amy Peck.
Smith described how the water sweeping through Waste Management’s industrial lot dries up on neighbors’ grass: “Is there something in the water or the land that’s making everybody sick? … How can we stay on top of this?”
At the landfill’s fenceline along Tanner Road, between a string of one-story homes and a locked gate announcing the facility’s permit number, a permanent yellow diamond sign echoes his concern, announcing: “Roads May Flood.”
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Harris County sent its intent to sue in June and is required to wait 90 days before filing a formal complaint. Members of the county attorney’s office then plan to file a lawsuit against the site under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which governs solid waste.
They hope to force the landfill’s permanent closure, require the safety measures that follow, and test the site for contamination that could be harming nearby residents.