Back to square one on LHR

by Denise Etheridge

White County News

Opponents of LHR Farms, a septic waste operation, say the county is back to square one, after the White County Board of Commissioners announced Monday that it is no longer negotiating a voluntary monitoring agreement with LHR Farms.

The surprise announcement came during the citizen participation portion of a regular commission meeting held July 7.

“We are no longer engaged in any kind of negotiations with LHR,” White County Commission Chairman Chris Nonnemaker said. “The negotiations were halted on the recommendation of our environmental attorney Joan Sasine.”

In April, the county hired Sasine of the environmental law firm Powell Goldstein LLP of Atlanta.

Nonnemaker said Sasine advised the county to end negotiations after LHR Farms sent local officials a “red-penned” draft of the voluntary monitoring agreement.

“What we got back [from LHR] was pretty much watered down,” Nonnemaker said.

White County Manager Alton Brown clarified on Tuesday that LHR Farms did not accept the set of standards outlined in the county's draft of the voluntary monitoring agreement.

When asked by LHR Farms opponents Peggy Rutter and Susan Kruzdlo what the county's next step would be, commissioners said they would wait to see what action EPD would take.

Nonnemaker said EPD could deny LHR Farms a Land Application System permit now that the agency has gotten results from its soil and water tests.

EPD recently contacted the State Attorney General for legal counsel about possibly denying a permit to the septic waste disposal facility in south White County.

“I wasn't surprised about the announcement because I had heard rumors that negotiations had broken off,” Rutter said on Tuesday. “So we're back to where we were 10 years ago. I told Chris (Nonnemaker) that you can't assume EPD is going to shut him (LHR Farms owner John Hulsey) down. They could just fine him.”

Rutter said the residents who live around LHR Farms may themselves pursue legal action against the private septic waste disposal facility.