HOUSTON – Houston Mayor John Whitmire said the company USA Waste of Texas Landfills, Inc. has withdrawn a permit request to expand the Hawthorn Park Landfill.
The company had been looking to expand the landfill, which sits in the Carverdale area. Residents in the area had spoken out against the idea of expanding the landfill.
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Mayor Whitmire issued a statement following the company’s announcement that they had withdrawn the permit application.
“Today’s news that USA Waste of Texas Landfills, Inc. has withdrawn its application to expand the Hawthorn Park Landfill is a victory for one of our most vulnerable neighborhoods.
As a State Senator in 2022, I proudly stood with the residents and business owners in Carverdale to object to the permit application because they were concerned about potential environmental and health issues, increased truck traffic, and flooding that the proposed expansion would have created.
I wrote to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to request a public meeting and joined community members at the landfill to protest all attempts to expand the landfill. Houston City Council Member Amy Peck also advocated on behalf of Carverdale residents at the time, and I thank her for her leadership and commitment to stopping the landfill expansion.
As Houston’s Mayor, I promise to continue fighting for Houstonians whenever their quality of life is threatened. I look forward to working with the residents of Carverdale and other citizens to speak up about environmental justice issues that threaten our hardworking families. Everyone deserves a safe and healthy place to live.”
USA Waste of Texas Landfills, Inc. also released a statement.
“On January 11, USA Waste of Texas Landfills, Inc. submitted a formal request to withdraw its application for an expansion of the Hawthorn Park Landfill. The request was filed with the administrative law judge presiding over the contested case matter that is pending at the State Office of Administrative Hearings. USA Waste withdrew the application due to realignment of strategic company priorities. The Hawthorn Park Landfill remains a valuable operating asset and the expansion will be re-evaluated in the future.”