No to Buc-ees

[Evie O'Dor]

Members of the Orange County Board of County Commissioners,

Please do not approve the Buc-ees project.

It Will Increase Crime, Especially Human Trafficking

Crime at Buc-ees ranges from assault to police involved shootings and a loss of life. The 2015 International
City/County Management Association’s (ICMA) report on New Braunfels, Texas home of one of the largest
Buc-ees, lists other-initiated calls for service (CFS) to the police as 219. This number ranked Buc-ees as 2 nd
highest for police calls initiated by others. ICMA ranked Crime CFS at 3 rd in the county with 47 CFS. These
numbers are the crimes that have been reported.

Large truck stops become hubs for crime and illegal activities. The National Human Trafficking Hotline
(NHTH) identifies large truck stops as areas for prostitution and human trafficking. The NHTH reveals that
50% of their hotline calls are from truck stops. Children are often the victims of human trafficking. A quick
research of “truck stops” and “trafficking” reveals how pervasive this crime issue is. In February 2019
Alamance County arrested 19 people for human trafficking. Alamance Sheriff Terry Johnson stated that
the bust was merely “a drop in the bucket” for the human trafficking that occurs in the area and projected
that he could have arrested hundreds during the operation if extended only 4-5 more days. For the risk
Buc-ee’s poses in this one area alone, you should reject the project.

It Will Contaminate Water
Buc-ees proudly boasts their many, clean bathroom stalls. With 100 toilets, Buc-ees will require millions of
gallons of water to be processed. Cleaning their massive facilities will send significant amounts of
chemicals and cleaning products down the tubes to be processed as well.

Groundwater will be contaminated by the spillage of gasoline. According to the Journal of Contaminated
Hydrology, 2014, every time a pump is used a loss of 0.9 to 2.5 grams of gas drips. For just one use of 120
pumps this equals a cup of gas. Other studies show that fuel spills account for 6 liters of gasoline spilled for
every 16,200 gallons pumped. Buc-ees’ tanks will hold over half a million gallons of fuel. This capacity
signals how much gasoline will be pumped, and inevitably dripped. Research shows that 50% of this lost
gasoline can penetrate the concrete to contaminate groundwater. This project does not reflect the future
of energy use. Just today, General Motors announced it plans to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

It Will Harm Existing Local Businesses
Buc-ees’ revenue will be generated by pulling customers from the established gasoline stations along
North Carolina’s Interstates 40 and 85. The loss of customers from existing businesses could leave facilities
abandoned. Abandoned facilities invite crime. Buc-ees has established they will use unfair practices to gain
market share. Recently Buc-ees lost a federal lawsuit in Alabama for price fixing when they opened a new facility and undercut existing businesses.

It Will Be An Eyesore Devaluing Orange County

Buc-ees is known for littering the landscape with tasteless billboards advertising its massive facility for miles in every direction. There will be immense pressure in county's far from Orange Co., all along the interstates, to allow signs such as this:

Please reject this project.
Evie O’Dor

Orange County family farm owner