June 16, 2011
Contact:
Chris Brook: (919) 323-3380 ext. 113
chrisbrook@southerncoalition.org
Goldie Wells: (336) 549-8712
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
Judge Enjoins Greensboro City Council From Expanding White Street Landfill
Second Superior Court Judge Finds for Plaintiffs
GREENSBORO, NC –Judge Richard W. Stone granted Plaintiffs request for a preliminary injunction this morning, halting the Greensboro City Council’s efforts to expand the White Street Landfill. The order enjoins the City Council “from adopting any solid waste management plan that selects or approves a ‘new sanitary landfill’ site… in the White Street Landfill… until the Court has entered a final judgment in this case.” This is the second Superior Court Judge, after Judge Patrice Hinnant’s June 3 order, to find for the Plaintiffs in holding that the Greensboro City Council has not met its statutory obligations.
"The statute was there, all the Greensboro City Council had to do was look at the statute," said Goldie Wells, a leader with the Citizens for Environmental and Economic Justice. "I’m happy our voices are finally being heard."
While the City Council planned to sign a 15 to 30-year contract with Gate City Waste Services or Waste Industries by June 21, 2011, it now cannot adopt such a plan at least until the trial in this case concludes, according to the order. A 15- to 30-year contract would have required the construction of two new phases (Phases IV and V) of the White Street Landfill. These expansions obligate the City Council to consider other sites, hold a public hearing and consider socioeconomic and demographic data under North Carolina General Statute 160A-325. Prior to this order, the Greensboro City Council had not yet fulfilled these obligations despite a letter from SCSJ reminding it of its legal obligations and repeated requests from the community.
The case, which is entitled Jacqueline Neal Ferguson, Roosevelt Ferguson, Betty Crite, Marlina Scales, Lottie Neal, Citizens for Economic and Environmental Justice, and League of Women Voters Piedmont Triad v. Greensboro City Council, features both residents directly impacted by the landfill expanding and residents throughout Greensboro. All Plaintiffs are represented by SCSJ. The case will now proceed to a trial.
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.
