City landfill closure process begins

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
The closure process for Newcastle’s No. 2 landfill has begun, according to City Engineer Mike Moore, who selected a consultant to help with the closure permit application. The landfill will not officially close until 2022, Moore said. 
Moore told the Newcastle City Council on Feb. 19 during its regular meeting that he needed to begin the landfill closing process for the Old Highway 85 site. According to Moore, the permit for closure must be submitted to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality no later than Feb. 13, 2020. 
According to a letter dated Feb. 13, 2017, from the DEQ, the department granted a five-year extension for the Newcastle landfill to allow the city to use “remaining airspace” before closing the facility. The letter notes that with a closure permit application requirement date of Feb. 13, 2020, there will be “sufficient time” for permit review and approval by the time the permit expires and the landfill needs to be closed. 
Moore said that the closure permit will meet the DEQ’s municipal solid waste regulations and that the permit is expected to take “some effort” to prepare. 
“We will be able to utilize the landfill until the Feb. 14, 2022, closure time,” Moore said later. “After that, we will shut the gates and move into the closure phase.” 
As the city begins the closure process, there are no internal deadlines set by the city, Moore said, but representatives of the city need to make a decision and plan in advance for the closure. 
“It comes down to a comfort level for the city and how we will be prepared when the landfill is closed. We need to make a decision internally on how we are going to go forward with working with the district,” Moore said. “If it doesn’t look like they (Weston County) are going to have a landfill in place, we will have to look at other options.” 
Moore said that the city does not want to “solely depend” on the Weston County Solid Waste District but that he thinks the district is making good progress. 
“Our current thought is that hopefully the Weston County Solid Waste District will be in place prior to the landfill’s closure,” Moore said. “Currently, they seem to be moving along in their process, making progress towards reaching their objective to put a landfill in. “
“If that falls into place, we are fine,” he said. “We will be monitoring their progress, and if it looks like there is going to be a hold up for some reason, we want to be prepared in advance to take an alternative route.” 
As far as he is aware, Moore said, the county solid waste district has selected a consultant to help select a site for a future landfill and he believes they are leaning toward one of three sites they have already considered. 
“Provided they have a site selected, there is certain criteria they have to look at. Once they have worked through that – they can move forward and try to get a permit for that site – then the process will probably take at least a year,” Moore said. “I anticipate about the time we have to have our closure permit, they will have a site permitted. That would work good, then we know which direction we need to go.” 
Moore said that the city has always had alternative options, such as direct hauling to another facility or building a transfer station. 
According to Moore, the city looked into direct hauling to another facility, possibly in Gillette or Casper, as well as building a local transfer station to collect the trash before hauling it to another facility. 
“If we do either of those, that takes care of the city’s trash, but the locals will no longer have a landfill to utilize,” Moore said. “They would end up having to do the same thing (haul their solid waste).” 
The most economic solution for everyone involved, according to Moore, will be access to a local landfill. He stated that direct hauling, as well as the transfer station option, would cost the city and residents more money. 
“There is funding available for transfer stations. This is something we might want to take a look at – direct hauling and transfer station and the cost of the two,” Moore said. While the Central Weston County Solid Waste District has a transfer station, he said, the city has not explored the option of using it because he believes it would not have the capacity to handle Newcastle’s solid waste.