Wise County residents speak out after landfill proposal rattles community
Roughly a hundred Wise County residents gathered Thursday night at a public meeting organized by Texas environmental officials about a proposal for a landfill near Aurora.
The meeting at the Decatur Conference Center was held by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to gather input on a proposal from Chisolm Trail Disposal LLC for a construction and demolition landfill. Chisholm is owned by the Georgia-based Green Group Holdings.
Several local and state officials attended the meeting, scheduled after a request by state Sen. Tan Parker.
Following the public comment period which ended Thursday, the TCEQ will respond to the concerns in writing before deciding whether to issue a permit that would allow the project to move forward.
The landfill would be in Aurora’s extraterritorial jurisdiction at 291 Private Road 4674. There are 305 homes and 26 businesses within one mile of the permit boundary, according to a technical summary written by Chisholm, with the closest home just 64 feet away.
After an informal question and answer session with several representatives from TCEQ, more than a dozen people stepped to the microphone to deliver comments on the proposal.
“I’ve yet to meet a single person in this county who wants this project to go forward,” said Republican Rep. Andy Hopper, who represents Aurora and Decatur, in remarks at the beginning of the public comments section. “I think everybody feels pretty strongly that they have concerns.”
The landfill project has faced several hurdles and drawn the ire of residents since 2024, when Chisholm filed an application for a permit.
The landfill would be near the West Fork of the Trinity River, in an area residents say is prone to flooding. Chief among the worries they have is that the landfill could contaminate precious water in the Trinity Aquifer.
“Due to the low elevation in the proposed site, and the close proximity to the county’s aquifer — the water source for Wise County — this location presents some serious risk to groundwater contamination,” said Wise County resident James McDonald, reading his written comments aloud. “Placing a landfill near such precious and limited natural resources is counterproductive ... and poses unnecessary risk to residents, businesses, agricultural operations.”
Chisholm filed a permit for a Type 4 municipal waste landfill, designated only for construction and demolition materials. Anything else, such as food waste, hazardous materials and household items are technically not supposed to be thrown away in a construction landfill.
TCEQ officials said that there would be several methods in place to ensure that materials do not leak into the ground or become a hazard. Residents and local officials aren’t so sure.
“Everybody knows that when somebody is cleaning up a site, they’re going to throw away everything,” said Aurora mayor Bryan Dolan in a public comment. “It’s human nature to try to get the job done and check the box off, and it’s not something that we can tolerate.”
Additionally, the landfill’s proposed location would require trucks to traverse County Road 4668, near an area known as Bobo’s Crossing. There’s a sharp turn and railroad tracks. Residents and local leaders have said that TCEQ misrepresented the nature of the intersection in a traffic study completed for the application.
Residents at the meeting said that the intersection isn’t safe to begin with — and commercial traffic would only make it worse.
“Two different school bus systems travel down 718 by Bobo Crossing multiple times a day,” said Ron Pellegrini, Aurora mayor pro tem. “Are we willing to take risks with our children?”
Also among the speakers was Wise County Judge J.D. Clark, who filed a request for a contested case hearing on the landfill.
“The proposed location presents unacceptable transportation and public safety risks,” Clark said in his comments, speaking on behalf of the Wise County Commissioners Court. “Given the risks the absence of local consultation and the lack of enforceable near term mitigations, the Commissioners Court cannot support this permit.”
After the meeting, local officials expressed dismay with Chisholm and support for their community.
“I think what you saw tonight is a nearly completely unanimous crowd of individuals that live in this county that are deeply concerned about the impacts of this landfill,” Hopper said. “Anything that we put on the surface of the ground is going to endanger the quality of the water in the Trinity Aquifer, which we rely on here in Wise County.”
Thad Owings, a spokesperson for Chisholm Trail Disposal, said the public feedback was “critical” to the process and that the company is committed to working with the state and residents on consider the concerns. “Chisholm Trail Disposal appreciates the feedback shared by residents last night at the TCEQ meeting,” Owings said. “We listened closely to the concerns raised about traffic, safety, water, and the environment, and we will continue to do so throughout the application process.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 12:09 PM.
