Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘landfill closure’ Category

Paying for the removal of the median along Blackcomb Way and its re-paving was a smart financial move for the municipality.

It is part of a financial agreement between the Resort Municipality of Whistler and the 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) explained chief administrative officer Bill Barratt.

Under the deal the RMOW will pay for paving upgrades needed for the 2010 Games, while VANOC will pay for the methane gas mitigation work needed at the site of the $46.8 million Rona High Performance Centre within the athletes’ village.

The deal cost the RMOW about $600,000 in paving, said Barratt.

It is not clear how much the methane work is costing VANOC, but its July board of directors meeting notes that $1.02 million was drawn from the contingency for methane gas mitigation work at the centre along with snow-making and ski run in-run out grading at Cypress and homologation work at the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympics Centre.

"It is a good financial plan," said Barratt, adding that it’s reflective of the strong partnership between the municipality and Olympic organizers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ontario’s environmental watchdog has urged the province to shut down a controversial, 55-year-old garbage dump in Napanee.

The Ministry of Environment should immediately order the closing of the controversial Richmond Landfill site, Gord Miller, Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner, recommends in his annual report, released yesterday (tues).

"The (commissioner) believes that there are compelling environmental reasons for (the ministry) to require the immediate, orderly closure of the site and no compelling social or economic reasons for continuing to keep it open," Miller states, in the report.

The site is operated by Waste Management of Canada. Spokesman Wes Muir, reached yesterday afternoon in Toronto, said he could not comment.

"We haven’t had a chance to review the report at this time and we’ll be providing comment at a later date," Muir said.

In 2006, the Ministry of the Environment rejected Waste Management’s bid to expand the landfill so that it could accept up to 750,000 tonnes of trash annually.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bad weather may delay completion of Freeport’s landfill closure

A recent spell of rainy weather may derail efforts to complete Freeport’s landfill project prior to the arrival of winter.

Sue Grans, spokesperson for William Charles Construction, said Wednesday the contractor remains optimistic about finishing the project this fall. However, Grans acknowledged recent weather has put the project’s completion in jeopardy.

“We feel comfortable that we are on schedule,” Grans said. “But the rain has not helped and the days are getting shorter.”

William Charles Construction is the project’s primary contractor. However, the closure effort includes the City of Freeport, engineering firm Fehr-Graham & Associates, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Ben Bushman, project manager for Fehr-Graham, said Thursday he expects the majority of the landfill’s cover system to be completed this fall. However, contractors may struggle to establish the necessary “grass cover.”

“All of the earth moving will be complete this fall,” Bushman said. “Everything else is weather dependent, primarily the seeding.”

The vegetation, Bushman explained, serves more than an aesthetic purpose.

“If we cannot get adequate grass cover, we will run the risk of erosion, mainly due to the spring thaw,” he said.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Ontario Environmental Commissioner’s recommendation to close the Richmond Landfill Site immediately is “disappointing” for the company that operates the Napanee-area dump.

Wes Muir, director of communications for Waste Management, said the recommendation contained in Gord Miller’s annual report came as a surprise to his company. The site, he said, has active certificates of approval issued by the Ministry of the Environment.

“We were disappointed the environmental commissioner chose not to contact us to discuss this matter with us,” Muir said. “The Ministry of the Environment objected an opposition group’s request to close the site. What they came back with late last year is that our landfill is in accordance with its certificates of approval and … the ministry inspects our site for compliance.”

Muir said the monitoring looks into ground and surface water as well as air quality. Results indicate the site is safe, he said.

Read the rest of this entry »

State authorities are suing Bonzi Sanitation Landfill for millions of dollars needed to close it by early 2011.

The troubled landfill, at 2650 W. Hatch Road, west of Carpenter Road, also must correct groundwater contamination threatening the drinking water of 300 people in the Riverdale Park neighborhood three miles southwest of Modesto, California Attorney General Jerry Brown demands in the lawsuit.

“These people have really been able to skirt, duck and evade their obligations,” said Cris Carrigan, senior staff counsel with the state Water Resources Control Board, which has been on Bonzi’s tail for more than 20 years. “It’s gotten to the point where the board just didn’t think we had any other recourse (than to sue).”

Also, Riverdale Park residents this week received notices to boil water before drinking it for reasons unrelated to the landfill. Water in distribution lines has high levels of bacteria, a relatively common problem that could be corrected in a few days or less, a Stanislaus County official said. Read the rest of this entry »

A new plan for closing the town’s former landfill could clear a space for a skateboard park and other recreational uses, including a sidewalk connecting Hobomock Street with Learning Lane, officials said Monday.

The Board of Health, landfill manager Mike Valenti and a representative from Environmental Partners (the company engineering the project) provided selectmen with an updated plan for the landfill Monday night.

The landfill, located on Hobomock Street in front of the new recycling center, has not been used since the mid 1970s. The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the town to formally close the landfill by sealing, or “capping,” it with certain materials.

Board of Health member Lisa Cullity described the landfill cap as “a really giant, thick pool cover.”

The Board of Health has been studying the landfill for about 15 years, determining what’s buried, where and how deep, Cullity said.

The old plan was to truck in a large volume of contaminated materials, from big construction sites and other projects, to place over the old landfill and help cover the cost of the capping. Essentially, people would pay to get rid of their trash in Pembroke.

But a changing economy, less availability of materials and a lower price that likely would cover just 20 percent of the anticipated capping cost have led Pembroke officials to consider other options.

Environmental Partners was brought in about four months ago to help.

Company principal Mark White said, under the old plan, trucks would have brought in as much as 600,000 yards of material to fill in the site. There would have been a truck traveling through the center of town delivering materials every couple of minutes, Monday through Friday for about two years.

Several towns that have followed this plan have faced problems with managing the materials, both the cost of personnel and tracking what exactly is being dumped, Cullity said. The “fill” plan also would have left Pembroke with a hilly area that would not be usable for much more than walking over.

The new plan is to seal the approximately 20-acre landfill with a more permeable sandy/silty material rather than clay, allowed by the state DEP because studies have shown that what’s buried in the landfill is not dangerous.

“We have 15 years of gas study that show what’s in our ground just isn’t that bad. It just isn’t that harmful,” Cullity said.

Trucks still would have to deliver the cover material, but it would take a lot less with no fill material and a thinner cap of less than two feet, she said.

Including grading, drainage and construction, the project would cost an estimated $2.5 million, White said. The Board of Health receives about $50,000 every year at Town Meeting to cover ongoing engineering costs for the landfill closure.

The new design would make Pembroke eligible for low-interest loans from the state’s revolving fund, White said. Potential post-closure projects include renewable energy developments (wind and solar), walking paths connecting Hobomock Street with Learning Lane and a skate park.

“These are all things that make the state look at our project and say we’re not just looking for a money grab to slap a cover on our landfill and walk away,” Cullity said. “They want to see landfills turned into community assets, not community eyesores.”

White said they planned to prepare the site for closure and solicit bids during fiscal year 2012, two summers from now. Other projects, such as the skate park, could be started earlier and worked into the closure schedule.

NORRISTOWN — A modified closure plan for the Pottstown Landfill, located in West and Upper Pottsgrove, has been approved by the Department of Environmental Protection, according to a press release issued Tuesday.

The approved plan, submitted by Waste Management Disposal Services Inc. in 2008, includes the revisions proposed by the DEP in technical review and those made by the closure committee made up of Pottstown area officials

Among the revisions to the closure plan that Waste Management voluntarily adopted are a more frequent testing of methane gas stacks, periodic review of leachate flow from the landfill and enhanced security of the site, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

To view the comment and response document put together by the DEP after the July 2007 public hearing on the closure plan,

visit http://www.depweb.state.pa.us">www.depweb.state.pa.us and search for Pottstown Landfill.

Buena vista is dealing with a different problem that many landfills have. During a landfill closure a membrane is placed on the surface of the cap. This membrane is supposed to keep methane from leaking out into the atmosphere. The problem is that methane will seek the holes in the membrane and escape into the air. Then the landfill must find where the leak is coming from. That is a never ending chase of the ever elusive leak. With Top-Seal, if you ever have a leak in a general area, you simply apply a small amount to the area and roll it in. The leak will be repaired and the methane will stay where it is supposed to. The following story is a good example of what else can go wrong with a landfill.

WATSONVILLE – Leaking methane at the Buena Vista Landfill has prompted state regulators to add the facility to a black list of chronic violators.

A full report of the problem is still being compiled, but officials with the California Integrated Waste Management Board confirmed Friday that emissions of methane gas have exceeded standards for months, forcing the agency to downgrade the status of the county-run site last week to noncompliance.

The listing, while providing little detail on the safety risk at the facility or its rural environs west of Highway 1, requires the county to commit to a quick fix. Read the rest of this entry »

The Cornejo & Sons construction and demolition landfill in south Wichita could grow two acres to the south under a permit application being examined by the state.

City zoning maps already assumed the area would be used as landfill.

But some city officials said they were caught off-guard by the proposed expansion because the council voted in April to cap the trash pile near its current height and have it close by Dec. 31, 2010. The height and closure date wouldn’t change.

Zoning for the two-acre expansion has been approved for years, but it was not widely discussed in April, when officials focused on the height of the trash pile.

Officials with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment will explain the proposed landfill expansion and record public comments at 6 p.m. Sept. 30 at Jardine Middle School, 3550 Ross Parkway.

Vice Mayor Jim Skelton said the city probably can’t block the expansion, even though he would like to.

"KDHE needs to consider declining this permit because he has a bad record of complying with regulations," he said. "That’s a valid reason to decline the permit."

City and state inspectors have documented several violations of landfill regulations at the Cornejo site, 3299 Southeast Blvd. In February, a city environmental official reviewed state records and recommended the city not approve any expansion.

"Over 70 percent of the violations are recurring indicating that the facility cannot or will not comply with past inspection citations," a memo from the official said.

Ron Cornejo, co-owner of Cornejo & Sons, said the landfill did not have environmental problems and questioned where Skelton got his information.

"We don’t have any environmental issues," he said.

Kay Johnson, director of the city’s Environmental Services Department, said in an e-mail that city officials have not reviewed the state application. But also said that she understood that KDHE would develop a permit consistent with what council members approved.**

The Cornejo landfill has irritated people who live near it for years because trash and dirt blow into their neighborhoods. Cornejo employees have routinely gone out to pick up trash and have tried to cut down on the litter.

Neighborhood complaints grew earlier this year when The Eagle reported that the trash mound had grown about 60 feet beyond its permitted height.

City officials said it would probably do more harm than good to remove the debris, and council members approved a plan to cap the landfill close to its current height.

Some neighborhoods have noticed a dirt mound atop the waste pile. Cornejo confirmed that the mound was put there in preparation to close that part of the landfill.

The new 2-acre site would handle additional waste, then be closed at the end of 2010.

"This is the final step," he said.

Among the greatest ironies of President Barack Obama’s environmental policies is his federal budget proposal to "cap and trade" greenhouse gas emissions. The plan would roughly double electricity rates nationwide. It would weigh heavily on businesses during the worst recession since World War II, and about double all end-user utility costs. The irony stems from Obama’s oft-repeated promise on the campaign trail not to raise taxes on American families earning less than $250,000 annually. But "cap and trade" might be better termed "cap and tax" for the crushing tax impact it will have on Americans.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the proposed 2010 federal budget promote many potential "clean" and "renewable energy" projects. However, they ignore one of the most economical and environmentally friendly ways of improving energy efficiency and cutting carbon emissions: harnessing the potential energy of trash.

Read More Here http://www.rightsidenews.com/200908316264/energy-and-environment/harnessing-the-energy-of-trash.html