State Report on Shoosmith Landfill Closure Delayed

TL;DR: A state report on the strategy and funding plan for closing the troubled Shoosmith Landfill in Chesterfield County, an effort estimated at $173 million, was due October 5 from Virginia's Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and is now more than a month overdue.

The story

A state report on how to close and pay for the remediation of the Shoosmith Landfill in Chesterfield County has missed its deadline. Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources David Bulova, in consultation with the Secretary of Finance, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Planning and Budget, was required by the General Assembly through the 2026 state budget to submit a report to legislative committees by October 5, 2026. That report was meant to outline options and funding mechanisms for resolving the landfill closure and environmental contamination issues. As of early November, the report remained incomplete and under review by the Governor's Office, more than a month past its deadline.

The delay leaves Chesterfield County and state legislators without clarity on how the state plans to fund the estimated $173 million remediation effort or what timeline will govern the closure process. The stakes are substantial: the landfill generates approximately 65,000 gallons of leachate—a toxic liquid created when rainwater interacts with decomposed waste—daily. An engineering assessment found that complete remediation could take 30 years.

The Shoosmith Landfill, which began operations in 1976, stopped accepting new waste in 2022. Its owner, Shoosmith Bros Inc., filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June 2025, leaving a court-appointed trustee to oversee closure operations. The trustee has access to approximately $19.3 million from two financial assurance bonds, far short of the $173 million estimated total cost. The state has allocated $10.6 million through the 2026 budget as emergency funding, but that too represents only a fraction of the need.

The landfill's contamination history added urgency to the report. In July 2024, Chesterfield County issued an Administrative Order prohibiting leachate discharge to the sanitary sewer system. The county has said it acted after finding that the landfill had falsified records about leachate contents. County officials have also said the landfill discharged untreated leachate into the county's wastewater system between 2019 and 2023, and that the county's Proctors Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant saw rising ammonia levels beginning in 2019. Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality documented repeated leachate seeps at the site in 2021 and 2022, and gas condensate discharging into nearby Swift Creek in June 2021.

When CBS 6 requested the draft report via a Freedom of Information Act request, the Governor's Office withheld it entirely, citing privilege for draft materials. According to Grayson Shultz from the Governor's Office, "The requested report is still under review by the Governor's Office and is not yet in its final form." The administration has not provided a release date. Delegate Mike Cherry, a state legislator with interest in the matter, expressed frustration with the delay: "Every day that ticks by is a potential for there to be something happen that we really don't want to happen."

Key players

• Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources David Bulova: State official responsible for submitting the closure report
• Delegate Mike Cherry: State legislator expressing concern about the delay
• Shoosmith Bros Inc.: Bankrupt owner of the landfill
• Chesterfield County: County government overseeing local impacts

Key dates

• October 5, 2026: Deadline for state environmental closure report (missed)
• Early November 2026: Report remains incomplete and under review by Governor's Office

Why it matters: Until the state's closure and funding strategy is released, Chesterfield County residents and legislators do not know how the state plans to close a landfill that has leaked waste into Swift Creek, or who will pay for the cleanup. A clear remediation plan and dedicated funding mechanism are essential to prevent further environmental damage and to establish accountability for bearing the substantial costs of cleanup.

Correction (2026-11-10): An earlier version of this story said the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality missed the report deadline. The report was due from the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, working with DEQ and other state agencies. The earlier version also stated the county's findings about falsified records and ammonia levels as fact rather than attributing them, and said without support that the cleanup had stalled and that the Chesapeake Bay watershed was at risk.

Places

• Shoosmith Landfill
• Swift Creek

Related links

• Virginia DEQ Shoosmith Landfill Information
• Chesterfield County News on Shoosmith

Read the original at WRIC 8News Local →

Sources

• Shoosmith landfill report weeks overdue; Governor's office withholds draft from CBS 6
• Shoosmith Landfill state report is more than a month overdue
• Bankrupt Virginia landfill poses potential environmental catastrophe
• Records show Chesterfield's Shoosmith landfill leaked waste into Swift Creek years before bankruptcy
• Down the Drain - richmondmagazine.com
• Virginia DEQ launches Shoosmith landfill webpage with reports, information