Cries of “What!” and “No!” sprang up Wednesday when Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson and state Rep. Earl Harris told residents and activists that a facility in Gary for demolition rubble would accept waste from projects across Northwest Indiana.
Harris, D-East Chicago, the sponsor of a bill before the Indiana House of Representatives to ease state laws prohibiting landfills within a half-mile of a residential area in Gary, tried putting a positive spin on the project by saying it would have financial benefits for Gary.
“Other communities could pay the city to put their waste into our site,” Harris said during a legislative hearing at the Glen Theatre, where about 150 people attended.
Harris deferred many of the questions to Freeman-Wilson, who confirmed that a Gary site would wind up taking waste from other communities.
“We have a $100 million blight problem and there are no easy solutions to it,” she said.
Officials said the facility would save the city the cost of disposing of rubble from its 6,000-plus demolition projects. Freeman-Wilson said disposal costs Gary about $4,000 per project.
Harris said opening the facility to others in Northwest Indiana it could also be a “revenue stream” for Gary.
Residents and activists said they didn’t think much of the project – regardless of any financial benefits it might provide.
“Gary has a troubled history with solid waste disposal,” Samuel Henderson, an attorney with the Hoosier Environmental Council, said.
The 62-acre Gary Development Landfill, 479 N. Cline Ave., Midco I, 7400 W. 15th Ave., and Midco II, 5900 Industrial Highway, facilities in Gary have gained EPA Superfund status for various reasons.
Thomas Frank, of the Community Strategy Group, said it would be wrong for government officials to contemplate easing restrictions.
“The half-mile rule is a protection for the community,” Frank said.
Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington, D-Merrillville, said he is particularly bothered that easing environmental restrictions would apply only to Gary. “If this were really a good idea, you’d have every community in the state jumping on the idea,” he said.
The Rev. Delwyn Campbell, of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod of Gary, said he was concerned that officials weren’t willing to guarantee at this point that there would be nothing other than brick, wood or masonry rubble dumped at such a site.
“Your policies could be putting people at high risk,” he said.
Freeman-Wilson was unable to answer questions about who would run the disposal site or where it would be located.
Harris said repeatedly the Indiana General Assembly’s role in the project is to pass enabling legislation that would let the Gary Common Council, the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management work out the project’s details.
“We’re not talking about creating a landfill to accept solid waste,” Freeman-Wilson said, adding, “nobody is going to be able to look out their front door at the facility.”
Harris defended putting the facility less than half of a mile from residential areas.
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“This is not a traditional landfill, which is why the traditional half-mile standard doesn’t apply,” he said.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.