Public meeting over Horry County landfill expansion scheduled. Here’s when

The South Carolina Department of Environmental Services Bureau of Water has scheduled a public meeting to discuss the proposed Horry County Solid Waste Authority landfill expansion.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 2, at the Carolina Forest Recreational Center, multipurpose rooms A & B, 2254 Carolina Forest Blvd.

The SWA proposed to fill over 100 acres of wetlands to accommodate for 23.4 million tons of non-divertible waste over the next 45 years and meet the needs of Horry County’s growing population.

Residents living near the Highway 90 site have raised concerns the expansion would cause additional flooding since the wetlands are associated with Sterritt Swamp.

Environmentalists worry filling the wetlands would allow for trash to pollute the water and make its way to the Waccamaw River. The loss of wetlands could disrupt habitat function for 15 endangered, proposed endangered, threatened or proposed threatened species, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ public notice and the South Carolina Environmental Law Project.

Nearly 70 residents signed a comment letter addressed to SCDES to request the public meeting.

Residents can attend the meeting to voice concerns of the proposal. Oral statements will be heard at the meeting, but for the sake of accurracy, SCDES asks for important facts and statements be mailed or emailed to Michele Culbreath, SCDES-BOW, 2600 Bull St., Columbia, SC, 29201, or email michele.culbreath@des.sc.gov.