A legal battle over the expansion of Murfreesboro-based Middle Point Landfill, which is expected to approach capacity by 2028, went before the Tennessee Court of Appeals for oral arguments on Tuesday.
Operated by Republic Services, Middle Point landfill has served 37 Tennessee counties, including Davidson County, since it opened in 1988. But it is quickly filling up, and in recent years, Davidson County and Rutherford County have become the sole users of Middle Point, according to attorneys on Tuesday. But when BFI Waste System Services, Republic Services’ subsidiary, attempted to expand the landfill by 100 acres in 2021, the Murfreesboro Regional Planning Board denied the request.
At the chancery level, Chancellor Russell Perkins ruled that errors made by the board in following the correct procedure for rejecting the plan were “harmless,” denying BFI’s legal bid to overturn the board’s decision. The company argued in its appeal that while there could be valid reasons to deny the expansion of the landfill, errors in the procedure could not be overlooked.
“The board and then the court erred in not properly applying the roles of a board of review for a landfill expansion and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Commerce — excuse me, Conservation — as to what its role is,” said attorney Bob Boston, who represents BFI. “It conflated the two, and it resulted in an adverse decision that should be reversed.”
Boston argued that in its decision, the board considered factors that were not under its jurisdiction, such as odor, pollution and the wishes of the residents.
“‘Waste Management’s request to expand the southern landfill may be denied only if inconsistent with the board’s waste management plan,’” Boston said, reading an opinion from a similar case that appeared before the Court of Appeals in 2007. “It says ‘necessity, compatibility and desirability, notwithstanding.’ That’s what TDEC exists for, to handle those three things.”
But attorney John Rogers, on behalf of the board, argued that BFI was ignoring the fact that the board was upholding the region’s solid waste management plan, which had been submitted to and approved by TDEC.
“BFI never once addressed the board’s denial on the basis that expanding the Middle Point Landfill was inconsistent with the plan, and that the region plan indicates that the priorities for the region in the next five years are to increase recycling opportunities,” Rogers said. “BFI also never meaningfully addressed other bases for denial, such as the expansion itself is unnecessary, it’s not environmentally acceptable, and it’s not cost-effective.”
Judge Neal McBrayer was the most inquisitive of the three-judge panel, taking center stage as Judges Jeffrey Usman and Andy Bennett mostly stayed silent. But McBrayer did not seem to show a preference, and was instead critical of both sides. He seemed skeptical that the procedural mistakes made by the board were actually meaningful enough to overturn their decision. Concurrently, he also seemed unconvinced that the board had not inflated the meaning of the regional solid waste plan.
“You’re reading more into this plan than is actually there,” McBrayer said. “The statute directs the board to match up the application to what is in the plan. I see where it’s encouraging disposal of waste in other ways than landfill, but it doesn’t exclude the possibility that landfill would continue to be a part of the process.”
The panel did not indicate when a decision could be made.