McDowell Officials Mark ‘Golden' Step in Realizing New Landfill

As they assembled to hammer the ceremonial “golden spike” into the newly completed rail line, the gathering of McDowell County officials Monday also marked another step in the pending completion of a new 175-acre landfill.

The new rail line will allow for rail service to be extended to a site about two miles from the actual landfill. The solid waste will then be transferred to the 50,000 ton-a-month landfill by truck on a road owned by EnviroSolutions Inc. of Chantilly , Va. , Gordon Lambert, president of the McDowell County Commission, said.

The new rail line can hold up to 40 cars with the road being used primarily for the transport of solid waste to the landfill sire in Capels. County and state officials joined in Monday's ceremony, including members of the commission and the county's Solid Waste Authority.

“The landfill is a key instrument in our economic development that is taking place in the county,” Lambert said. It's just another great day for McDowell County .”

When construction is completed on the facility, it will be the first landfill in the county since the old Marytown facility closed in 1990. Most of the county's solid waste is currently shipped to the Mercer County Landfill and other surrounding localities

--Charles Owens (Bluefield Telegraph)