Conecuh County Commission chairman lobbying against landfill moratorium bill, says sponsor

Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, the sponsor of the landfill moratorium

BAY MINETTE, Ala. — A bill that would place a two-year legislative moratorium on new landfill permits waited Wednesday for action in the state Senate a day after lobbyist Paul Hamrick asked its sponsor to delay the proposal.
“I emphatically stated that I was not prepared to do anything that would in any way delay this bill from passage as soon as possible,” Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, said Wednesday.
Baker introduced House Bill 406 and has helped guide the bill through a vote in the House and through the Senate committee process. He said some lobbying has been ongoing regarding the bill, and Hamrick approached him Tuesday along with Conecuh County Commission Chairman Wendell Byrd.
“They asked two things,” Baker said in a telephone interview from the House floor. “They asked me if I’d be willing to discuss the bill, and asked if I would carry the bill over.”
Baker said he declined to take any action that would delay it.
Bill supported by Conecuh Woods opponents
The bill is one tool pushed by a large group of area residents who oppose a landfill proposed for a 5,100-acre tract of timberland in the rural county. The Conecuh Woods Landfill, spearheaded by developer Donald W. Stone, would include 1,500 acres of disposal cell area on the tract along Ala. 41, extending westward to the headwaters of Big Escambia Creek.
Several neighboring county governments passed resolutions opposing the project, as well as municipal governments in the region. Many area residents and economic developers alike have said the landfill would hurt a chronically poor county in rural Alabama.
Stone has said the project will inject millions in revenue to the local economy and bring jobs. He said the landfill would provide a green energy industrial park and would spark an industrial boom for Conecuh.
Commissioners voted 3-2 last month in a controversial meeting to approve the application for the landfill. Byrd was one of those voting in favor of the project.
Hamrick said this week that his firm was under contract to work for Conecuh Woods, a client of his partner Rachel Dickinson. Hamrick said his involvement was limited and the contract ended when the 90-day host agreement period expired in late April. He did say he would be open to doing more work for the developer.
Attempts to contact Hamrick or Dickinson regarding the bill were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Baker said Hamrick was still seeking a meeting on Wednesday.
Hamrick, former chief of staff to Gov. Don Siegelman, was indicted with Siegelman in 2006 on charges of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud. Hamrick was later acquitted.
“All I can say is, thank God for Alan Baker and Rep. Harry Shiver,” said Repton Mayor Terri Carter, who along with her town filed a lawsuit against the county in an effort to stop the landfill’s permitting.