Series 2634: Capacity Assurance Plan Files. 1992-1994.
Governor’s Office (RG 27). Administration of Daniel Kirkwood Fordice.

Series 2634: Capacity Assurance Plan Files. 1992-1994.
Governor’s Office (RG 27). Administration of Daniel Kirkwood Fordice.

      Files concerning the Mississippi Hazardous Waste Capacity Assurance Plan (CAP), a document submitted to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency that sets forth Mississippi’s plan for dealing with hazardous waste generated in the state over a twenty-year period and assures the federal government that the state has adequate capacity to handle it. Failure to provide an EPA-approved Capacity Assurance Plan results in denial of Superfund hazardous waste cleanup money.

      The documents in this series were originally maintained by Greg Hinkebein, Legal Counsel to Governor Fordice. Materials include correspondence between attorneys, court documents, correspondence and comments about the CAP, both pro and con, from citizens, industrialists and others, and various documents filed with the EPA and the Mississippi Secretary of State.

The Capacity Assurance Plan (CAP) submitted by Governor Fordice to the Environmental Protection Agency ignited fierce opposition from certain parties in Mississippi, while garnering support from other quarters. Environmentalists opposed the CAP on several grounds: that the Governor had no statutory authority for his actions, that the CAP was based on old (1989) data and was therefore outdated from the start, and that most of the plan had been drafted by the state’s Environmental Protection Council, a body that the Mississippi Supreme Court later found to be unconstitutional. Additionally, the Fordice Administration wanted to situate a large-capacity hazardous waste facility in Noxubee County, so many citizens of Noxubee County also opposed the CAP. While recognizing that such a facility might create jobs in the county, these citizens were more afraid of environmental pollution and the negative public consequences of having their home county known as a “hazardous waste dump site.”

Supporting the CAP were most industrialists and business organizations in the state, such as the Mississippi Manufacturers Association and the Mississippi Economic Council. The few businesses to oppose the CAP, or at least question it, were located in Noxubee County itself. Even the citizens of Noxubee County were divided, as many people in the lower economic tier actually wanted the hazardous waste site, hoping it would provide jobs. The controversy drew national attention when charges of “environmental racism” crept in: Noxubee County’s population is largely black, and some alleged that racism played a role in the state’s wanting to locate a hazardous waste dump there. In fact, the county itself was divided more along economic lines than racial.

Ultimately, no hazardous waste facility was built in Noxubee County.