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Landfill Decision Delayed

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: December 11, 2008

DADE CITY - The state Department of Environmental Protection will wait until Jan. 12 to announce its final decision on permitting a controversial landfill proposed for property south of Dade City.

Largo-based Angelo's Aggregate Materials wants to open a household waste landfill on 90 acres off Enterprise Road. The proposal has drawn opposition from a variety of community groups in eastern Pasco County.

The new date is a 30-day extension on DEP action that had been scheduled for Friday. DEP spokeswoman Pamala Vazquez said the agency needed more time to review public comments related to the proposal. She said the agency also wanted to avoid taking action during the holidays when people on both sides of the issue may be distracted.

"We didn't want anyone to think we were trying to push anything on either side," she said Wednesday.

The DEP will announce its decision as a "letter of intent," a document announcing either a denial or pending approval for the permit. If the letter is for approval, Angelo's will be required to post a public notice in local newspapers, Vazquez said.

Angelo's filed its original landfill application in 2006. The company runs a construction and demolition landfill nearby. Pasco County also owns a rarely used landfill in the same area.

Opponents contend the project will contaminate groundwater and could pollute nearby Green Swamp, the headwaters of the Withlacoochee River.

Carl Roth, spokesman for the east Pasco-based Protectors of Florida's Legacy, announced this week his group had added the Withlacoochee River Alliance to its list of supporters.

The alliance is an umbrella group for a variety of environmental organizations focused on protecting the river, which flows northwest from east Pasco to meet the Gulf of Mexico at the Citrus-Levy county line.

Roth said the delay will give his group and its supporters time to build their case for a legal challenge if DEP approves a permit for the landfill.

"We were originally not going to prepare our petition until we knew definitely that a letter was coming," Roth said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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