POPLARVILLE — Pearl River County supervisors will be interested in hearing Waste Management officials on Monday at 9 a.m. at the supervisors’ meeting, if they show up, concerning proposed dumping of oil-spill debris in the Millard landfill.

Waste Management had already began hauling oil-spill debris to the Pecan Grove landfill in Harrison County on Wednesday, despite protests from Harrison County supervisors.

Harrison supervisors have subpoenaed Waste Management officials, requiring them to appear before the Harrison board on July 26 to answer questions after Harrison supervisors said that pleas to Waste Management, BP and the Mississippi Dept. of Environmental Quality for information concerning dumping plans were ignored.

Last week BP and Waste Management said they were waiting on approval from DEQ to begin dumping the debris, and DEQ told reporters that they could dump because there paper work was in order.

In Pearl River County, board of supervisor’s president Anthony Hales on Wednesday said that a Waste Management official, Dan Ball, said that right now plans do not call for dumping “oil-spill debris” in the Millard landfill, but cautioned that that could change.

In addition, he told Hales on Wednesday that he and another Waste Management official will appear before the Pearl River County board on Monday at 9 a.m. to address the concern.

Hales said made a request to Ball that Pearl River County supervisors be notified before any oil-spill debris dumping takes place at the Millard landfill, if it does. Ball told Hales he would notify the board, Hales said.

However, Hales said he understood that if everything is proper and legal, there is little Pearl River County can probably do to prevent the dumping. Waste Management owns and operates the landfill at Millard.

Harrison County supervisors appealed to the governor and DEQ Director Trudy Fisher last week to stop the proposed dumping of oil-spill debris at the  Pecan Grove landfill whether it was hazardous or non-hazardous material. Waste Management owns and operates Pecan Grove landfill, as it does the one at Millard.

The Harrison County pleas had no effect.

Fisher said last week that BP and Waste Management had their papers in order showing that the proposed debris to be dumped in what she termed landfills in Harrison and Pearl River counties was nonhazardous and that there was nothing she could do to prevent them from using the landfills.

That statement by Fisher set off alarm bells in Pearl River County. On July 6, Pearl River County supervisors passed a motion by Supervisor Patrick Lee requesting full disclosure from BP and Waste Management on what they planned to dump in the Millard landfill, if they proposed to dump there at all.

In addition, at least one private citizen, Donna Willcutt, was at the meeting, protesting the proposed dumping at Millard.

The motion by Lee was supposed to be put into a letter form and sent to BP, Waste Management and DEQ.

Supervisor Hudson Holliday said that the companies and DEQ should be asked “point-blank” if they are planning on using the Millard landfill as a dumping site for oil-spill debris.

In addition, Lee said the letter should state Pearl River County’s opposition to the proposed dumping here.

In addition, Gov. Haley Barbour on Wednesday announced a yearlong economic impact study to examine the effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Sill on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Barbour said Wednesday that participants will include the state College Board, Depts. of Employment Security, Environmental Quality and Marine Resources, Mississippi Development Authority, the Dept. of Revenue and the Gulf Coast Business Council.

The $600,000 study will be funded equally by BP and anticipated grant money from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

Said Barbour, “We need a clear grasp on how this oil spill will impact the State of Mississippi and local communities for years to come. We want a picture of exactly how this spill will affect Mississippi businesses, families and communities. This study will help as state leaders, agencies and local governments create long-term coastal restoration plans.”

Also on Wednesday, more oil encroachment caused officials to close portions of the beach in Hancock County. Brian Adam, Hancock’s emergency management director, said tar balls on the beaches at Waveland, Bay St. Louis and areas near the Silver Slipper Casino were causing problems.

In addition, reports were that 69 miles of shoreline in Harrison and Jackson counties had been hit with oil as of Wednesday, according to the Joint Information Command in Mobile, Ala.

DEQ officials said more tar balls were scattered around the barrier islands. They continued to urge people to avoid contact with oil-related materials such as tar balls and tar mats and stay out of the water if these materials are visible.

Also on Wednesday, BP said there were 800 vessels working along coastal Mississippi in the program that uses privately owned boats for skimming, boom work and transportation.

The program is newly “targeted at using local commercial and charter fishing vessels and crews to respond to the oil spill and minimize the impact on the local community and people,” said Judith Luberski, BP vice president and lead coordinator of the Vessels of Opportunity Program.

(Associated Press reports were used in the compilation of this story.)