HEMPSTEAD, Texas – After four hard years, residents of Hempstead are celebrating an unlikely victory.
In June 2011, Bill Huntsinger learned of a proposal to build a landfill on about a 250-acre field at Highway 6 and Kelley Road.
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Like many residents he feared the landfill would bring water contamination, traffic, a horrible stench to the area and decreased home values. He formed "Citizens Against the Landfill in Hempstead" or CALH, to fight the proposal.
"We've always chosen the higher ground, to do what we know is right," Huntsinger said.
Over four years the group managed to raise $1.7 million to pay for legal fees and research and this week their hard work finally paid off.
The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality denied an application from Green Group Holdings to build the Pintail Landfill. The TCEQ listed several reasons, including this summer's discovery of high water levels at the site. "They did all their testing during the drought and God sent us 38 inches of rain in six months," said Jimmy Dishroon, who lives across from the site of the proposed landfill. "It showed 'em."
"We really are for the community and for each other and for a better place," said resident Joanne McCay.
Green Group Holdings CEO and President Ernest Kaufmann sent Channel 2 the following statement regarding the application denial:
"We are surprised by this action and we are in the process of evaluating our next steps."