in 1989, two multinational corporations and several government agencies put forward a proposal for the waste dump and offered payment of $3 million a year for 40 years. however, the residents of the largely uneducated boyd county farming community chose to resist the offer and controversy followed for almost two decades. during this time, the community was transformed "from a small group of isolated farmers to a defiant band of environmentalists". the opposition of the community eventually succeeded, and the license to build the dump was denied.