News

University officials make final efforts to prevent the landfill

by Future' Brown

The fight against the HWY 6 Pintail landfill continues.
 With the beginning of the new semester, there has been an increased wave of activism as Waller county citizens and Prairie View students and officials have been working to increase the support against the landfill.
Prairie View A&M University engineering professor Kelvin Kirby was the host of a recent landfill rally. Kirby urged attendees to join him Feb. 12 in a march from Hempstead Courthouse to Hempstead City Hall.
“The Commissioners Court of Waller County on Feb. 12 will vote on whether to amend an ordinance that says toxic waste cannot be in certain sites in Waller County,” Kirby said Thursday, Jan. 24. “We want them to vote to add the Pintail site to the list.”
In Kirby’s presentation, he said 270 or more trucks a day would be crowding the area around HWY 6. Only 11 of those trucks would serve the Waller county area. The others would be traveling to and from Houston. Kirby said there will be no new development and the landfill could grow as high as 180 feet. There could also be a property value decrease as high as $32 million.
Kirby ended his presentation stating his facts had not been checked and others more versed in landfill etiquette would correct any points that were incorrect.
Prairie View A&M University President George C. Wright met with a group of student leaders Tuesday afternoon to discuss the landfill. At the meeting he presented an official response to the approaching landfill.
The response is printed on page 9.
Student Government Association Vice President Jarrick Brown believes the rally on Feb. 12 will be a great community moment for Waller County.
“Citizens, students, and president will be banning together. We are looking to create a massive buzz about this landfill,” said Brown.
According to Brown, SGA and special programs coordinator Isis McCraw are working to bring Minniejean Brown-Tricky, a part of the Little Rock Nine, to the march. She will speak at the rally and host a Students Participating In Transcending Knowledge program afterward.
“This will be the push we need to stop the landfill. Dr. Wright will be presenting his letter and the letter written by the student body to the chancellor of the A&M University System and the Board of Regents Thursday at the board of regents meeting,” said Brown.