City Council approves closure of landfill section
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — City officials are one step closer to closing a section of the municipal dump, following councilors’ vote Monday to authorize CES, Inc. — an engineering company based in Brewer, with a branch in Presque Isle — to proceed with the project approach as outlined in their report for the cover system to be placed on the Phase 1 landfill.
Dana Fowler, director of the Solid Waste Department, joined CES President Dennis St. Peter and Project Manager/Branch Manager David Hopkins Jr. for a workshop with councilors that was held prior to the regular monthly City Council meeting.
Fowler provided councilors with a brief history of Phase 1, noting it was operational from about 1981 through 2010, when the pump system for leachate failed. Attempts were made to rectify the problem but no solution was found and use of that portion of the landfill was effectively discontinued. The city is now using Phase 2 of the landfill for garbage disposal.
Two options to address the issue were discussed. Fowler said one was a long-term temporary process of using plastic to cover the site, which would cost about $1.3 million. “This is the cheaper alternative but there’s no reimbursement from the state for the system,” said Fowler.
“The second is to do a full closure of the system, which CES estimates at $3.4 million, but the city would be eligible for 75 percent reimbursement,” said Fowler, noting although it would be cheaper to go the long-term temporary route, there would be no reimbursement. “Talking long-term, it would be more beneficial to do full closure; we’d get three-quarters of our money back.”
In October, city officials received a check for $15,837.76 from DEP Commissioner Patricia Aho — one of about a dozen payments made to municipalities throughout the state designated as reimbursement for landfill closure costs.
The reimbursements are being funded by a new $2 per ton fee on construction and demolition debris — the only waste stream exempt from any handling fee. That fee, which DEP led to have enacted in the 125th Legislature, went into effect on Jan. 1, 2013 and is expected to generate nearly $400,000 in revenue this year alone.
Starting in the 1980s, DEP officials began working with communities to close or cleanup unlined landfills that threatened public and environmental health.
The department provided technical assistance and a legislatively-mandated partial match and between 1989-2000, $79 million was given out to assist with the closure of 397 facilities. Money to support the program ran out in 2000 but since then, DEP has incurred millions more in obligations.
Fowler said having received one check already from the state, he’s optimistic about future payments.
“As much as we can trust the state, I think we’ll get the money back, since it’s paid by a special fee for demolition and construction debris,” said Fowler.
“The original Phase 1 leachate system has never really worked as designed,” said City Manager Jim Bennett. “I think this is a good creative solution, surprisingly, that comes out of (state) government.”
Bennett continued, asking councilors “to vote tonight to proceed with CES and DEP to come up with a final price we’ll sign off with. Tonight is an opportunity for you to say ‘no, don’t do that.’ You can stop the project at that point tonight, or say you’re intrigued enough to move forward and provide me with the details.”
St. Peter said he thought this was a “good way to hold DEP’s feet to the fire.”
“We’re working with them (DEP) on a cost-effective approach. It helps put the risk back in their shoes,” said St. Peter.
The engineer said he was involved in the legislation early on and a model was used to determine which communities received reimbursement.
“I was involved in the legislative process. It’s very narrow; they (DEP) only wanted those committed to building a landfill early on who can’t meet the technical challenges. It’s a very narrow expansion to allow some communities in,” said St. Peter.
Discussion continued with councilors asking questions about the landfill, the DEP reimbursement program and who would be on the hook if problems arise with the Phase 1 site in the future.
“If there’s a problem in the future and it requires corrective action, that makes us eligible for remediation money at 90 percent,” said Fowler.
Councilors then moved on to the regularly-scheduled meeting, which included voting on the Phase 1 landfill closure issue.
“If we do permanent closure, once it’s done, we’ll receive 90 percent reimbursement from the state if anything goes wrong. The city would get more back than it invested, with insurance of 90 percent,” said Bennett. “This is one of the best proposals to come out of DEP in quite a while.”
Councilor Craig Green said in discussions earlier in the year, councilors talked about preserving funds, the landfill and more.
“The more financially savvy (we are), it will make our operation more attractive, as we look forward to regional systems,” said Green, making the motion to move forward with the plan as presented, with a second made by Councilor Bruce Sargent and unanimous approval from all seven councilors.
