State Representative Franklin Cooke: “Environmental justice means standing up for our communities when their health, safety, and quality of life is under threat. I was concerned when I heard that neighborhoods in my district like West Minquadale were facing the prospect of living next to a landfill almost 20 stories high!”
Cooke’s House Bill 212 would prevent industrial landfills in Delaware from exceeding the current maximum of 130 feet. This bill is in response to Delaware Waste Management’s proposed expansion of their DRPI site. See the map below for the location:
The House passed Cooke’s bill by a vote of 25-14-2. The bill was not considered by the Senate before the close of session on June 30. So hopefully the proposed expansion is not approved before January.
Surprisingly, this vote was partisan, with only one Democrat, the Speaker, Pete Schwartzkopf voting no with the Republicans, and only one Republican, Steve Smyk, voting yes with the Democrats.
WHERE IS THE BILL NOW? House passed 25-14-2. Sent to the Senate for consideration.
DEMOCRATIC SPONSORS – Cooke Brown Longhurst Minor-Brown Ennis Lockman Chukwuocha Dorsey Walker Kowalko
REPUBLICAN SPONSORS –
YES VOTES – HOUSE — Baumbach Bentz Bolden Brady Bush Carson Chukwuocha Cooke Dorsey Walker Griffith Heffernan Jaques K.Johnson K.Williams Kowalko Longhurst Lynn Matthews Minor-Brown Mitchell Osienski Q.Johnson Seigfried Smyk Viola ||| SENATE —
NO VOTES – HOUSE — Briggs King Collins D.Short Gray Hensley Michael Smith Morris Postles Ramone Schwartzkopf Shupe Speigelman Vanderwende Yearick||| SENATE —
ABSENT – Bennett Dukes
There is a lot more to come on this front. This will be an environmental catastrophe if this permit is allowed.