Pocahontas Landfill Fails WV Dept. of Environmental Protection Inspection

During the September 30, 2026 regular meeting of the Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority Board (SWA Board,) Vice-Chairman Nancy Harris provided a copy of West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) Inspector Brett Smith’s “Notice of Violations” regarding the Pocahontas County Landfill. The inspection report listed thirty violations at the landfill which violate the landfill’s permit to operate. The report is supported by included photographic evidence of the violations. Harris read the summary comments by Inspector Smith. Although the violations noted in report are too numerous to fully list here, they included:

• Discolored water being discharged from the landfill into streams which ultimately empty into the Greenbrier River.
• The active working surface of the landfill is larger than permitted.
• Multiple drums of petroleum products which had no secondary containment were found at the landfill.
• There was no dust control at the landfill.
• There was trash loose laying around the landfill, with wind and birds spreading it outside the landfill
• The working area has not been covered daily at the end of the day as required (the tarp was found to be unused with weeds growing on it, and it is too small anyway.)
• The landfill was found to be discharging excessive Chloride, Mercury, and dissolved Oxygen on at least 4 occasions from March of 2026 through July of 2026.

These were only a few of the 30 violations noted in the report, all of which have been occurring for a very long time, predating the appointment of new members to the board. The report gives the Pocahontas County SWA Board 20 days to respond  which will need to include the remedial measures they will take to “fully abate” the violations noted in this report.

Also at the meeting, it was revealed that at the recent community committee meeting it was recommended that the SWA haul the county’s solid waste itself to the closest landfills in other counties after our landfill closes.

Member Henderson said that the WV Ethics Commission told him that the SWA Board did not provide proper notice of the job openings when they hired the new Office Administrator, however Harris said that posting was announced at the September Special Meeting and newspaper posting is not required. Henderson responded, saying that means “you are not going to follow the Ethics Commission’s opinion.”

They also decided that they were going to table any vote on changing the flow control measures passed last spring, but were not going to enforce them. WV Solid Waste Management Board Executive Director Mark Holstine, who was at the meeting, backed that decision, saying that under State Code 22-C-4, the SWA Board can choose to enforce their own regulations or to not enforce them.

Additionally at the meeting the Members:

• Agreed to advertise to create a pool of potential substitute SWA employees to be available in case they are needed, and it was recommended that those people already have CDLs.
• Decided to not extend the discount day for receiving green box fees any further than the November 15^th deadline, since the bills are being sent out now.
• Selected Holly Taylor, their Office Administrator, as the Treasurer for the board.
• Agreed to apply for a line of credit with a bank because of short-term funding issues caused by the delay in mailing out the green box fee bills.
• Agreed to allow the SWA Office Staff to pay routine monthly bills prior to formal SWA Board approval.
• Agreed to install cameras at the scales and exterior of the landfill. Regarding this, Harris agreed to let them use her cameras until others can be purchased. That motion passed on a 4 to 1 vote, with Henderson voting against it.