Brookshire resident comments on landfill controversy

 I think it is high time that someone stood up and spoke out about the litany of rumors, innuendo, and outright falsehoods that have been spewed by a small group of opponents of the Pintail Landfill who feel such tactics are acceptable in order to gain support for their cause. Their unfair attacks against our trusted elected county officials have been especially unwarranted and vicious. It is time to set the record straight.
 Despite all reports to the contrary, under Texas state law, the Waller County Judge and Commissioner's Court cannot stop the landfill from being built. Only the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality can deny the permit filed by Green Group Holdings to build a landfill in Waller County. The decision rests solely with the state.
 No one wants a landfill-not me, nor our elected leaders, but knowing that they have no lawful authority to stop it. Judge Beckendorfff and Commissioner Pokluda (with the Commissioners Court) have been working tirelessly to negotiate a host agreement between Green Group company officials and Waller County to protect the interests of our citizens and taxpayers. If the host agreement is not first adopted and TCEQ later approves the landfill, Waller County will have no future recourse-no ability to demand protections for our citizens. This host agreement has been described by those knowledgeable about such things as the strictest even negotiated in the state, and it will allow the county to protect the environment, control traffic, and limit the footprint of the landfill for its lifetime. Not negotiating a host agreement would be foolish and would allow the Pintail Landfill to be built with little or no regard for what is best for Waller County and its taxpayers.
 Instead of attacking the Judge and the Commissioner's Court, landfill opponents should be thanking them for being proactive and turn their focus and attention to TCEQ, which has the sole decision making authority on this issue. If landfill opponents have reasonable scientific proof of their outlandish claims that the landfill will harm our citizens and our way of life, they need to present them to the TCEQ Commissioners who will make the ultimate decision and quit attacking our honest and hard working county officials.
 Many of these attacks are coming from those who fought the Trans-Texas Corridor for being an intrusion of their private property rights as Texans. They need to stop being hypocrites, not that those same private property rights they once claimed are being exercised by Green Group Holdings, who can legally purchase the land and apply for their permit with TCEQ. Commissioner's Court does not get to decide who buys and sells property or how it is otherwise lawfully used. Not in Texas, anyway.
 Our County Judge and Commissioners have no lawful ability to stop the landfill and the lawsuit that landfill opponents want filed will not succeed but instead will cost Waller County tax payers hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. I for one, am appreciative of the fact that our county officials have and will continue to protect Waller County Taxpayers and it is time to come together and demand that the attacks come to an end, for common-sense to prevail, and for all of us to say thank you for doing the jobs that we elected them to perform, and for following the law and protecting our neighbors both now and in the future.
 Thank God, that Beckendorff, Pokluda and Kitzman have been willing to do the right thing despite the slings and arrows being thrown at them, and are taking the steps necessary to protect our county should TCEQ allow the landfill to be built.