Key pushing for funding to shut landfill

Lawmakers to take up his amendment today

Arkansas legislators are scheduled to consider an amendment today to help fund the closure of a Baxter County landfill.

The amendment, introduced by state Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, would allow Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality administrators to withdraw funds as needed from the state’s Landfill Post-Closure Trust Fund, an approximately $23 million fund established in 1991. Administrators would be authorized to “complete all actions necessary to achieve the final closure and post-closure care of a landfill owned by a regional solid waste management district” under certain conditions, according to the language of the amendment.

The language amends House Bill 1040, which appropriates funding for the Environmental Quality Department through June 30, 2015.

Key said he kept the amendment’s language relatively open so administrators could apply the funds to closure costs associated with public landfills as needed, but department Director Teresa Marks said the North Arkansas Board of Regional Sanitation site, commonly known as the NABORS landfill, is the only publicly owned landfill in need ofemergency financial assistance.

State officials have said it will take about $4.5 million to close the landfill.

The landfill, which occupies more than 700 acres about 10 miles north of Mountain Home, is owned by the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District, one of 18 such districts throughout the state. Although dozens of municipalities, counties and other solid-waste districts own and operate landfills, Marks said she was not aware of any other facilities in as dire a situation as the Baxter County landfill and the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District.

The district purchased the landfill and its trash-hauling service for about $8 million in 2005. In October 2012, after several years of declining revenue, the district defaulted on the $12.3 million bond issue it had taken out for the purchase. In November 2012, the district shut down its hauling service, ceased accepting garbage at the landfill and laid off most of the facility’s employees.

Although the landfill is closed, it has open trash “cells” that must be permanently sealed to protect the waste from weather and prevent the toxic byproduct known as “leachate” from infiltrating area groundwater. The district currently paysto have the leachate pumped from the site.

In February 2013, the Environmental Quality Department filed a lawsuit against the solid-waste district requiring administrators to produce $2.3 million the district had on hand, plus another $2.2 million needed to properly close the site.

Earlier this month, Key said he had been approached by constituents in his district about possible ways to fund the final closure of the landfill. Key introduced the amendment Thursday.

The use of funds from the Landfill Post-Closure TrustFund are typically limited to post-closure activities, such as well water monitoring. The language of the amendment stipulates that for the Environmental Quality Department to use money from the trust fund for other needs, a solid-wastemanagement district must have filed for bankruptcy protection and be unable to meet its debt obligations or otherwise insolvent. The department must also have already filed a civil action against the district to recover compensation for any money spent from the post-closure trust fund.

Harrison Mayor Jeff Crockett, who is also the chairman of the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste Board, said that because the amendment would allow the Environmental Quality Department to recoup money from the district, he was not sure how the legislation would affect it.

“I don’t know if it will help the district, who will ultimately pay those costs, or where the money will come from,”Crockett said. “But it will help the environment.”

Crockett estimated that the district has operational funds remaining to pay for leachate removal for only “a few more months.” Once the district can no longer afford to remove the toxic liquid, it “ends up in the White River watershed,” Crockett said.

Under state and federal law, owners of facilities such as landfills must keep “financial assurances” cash in reserve for post-closure activities, and such funds cannot be used for day-to-day operations.

Key said that if the amendment is adopted today, the bill will be ready for final passage in the state House and should subsequently be sent to the state Senate for consideration.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/25/2014

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