Landfill Expansion(s) Enabled

Landfill Expansion(s) Enabled By Zoning Change

November 14, 2007

Joe Miller

Waste Management, Inc. got a dream deal last night. The company agreed to donate 5 acres of land and to pay 1.5 million dollars to build a sewage treatment plant that will treat the leachate from Prairie View Landfill as well as the sewage from the residents of nearby town of Wyatt. Wyatt has a major sewage disposal problem and need for an affordable treatment option. Here's the story in today's South Bend Tribune:

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/News01/711140342/1052/News01"

In exchange for the 5 acres and 1.5 million dollar leachate treatment plant (which some said would have been built anyway), the County Council voted 6-3 to create a massive Landfill Overlay Zoning District (originally 1500 acres, but now somewhat less) which will allow Waste Management to expand the landfill (and/or another owner to create a landfill) within the district as long as present property owners in the district agree to sell their land. And if present property owners want to sell and are unable to do so at market value, Waste Management guarantees that they will receive an amount equal to market value on their sale. Future residents in the district, because it is designated a Landfill Overlay Zoning District, will not be able to remonstrate against landfill expansion.

Given the overlay zoning and market value enticements, it's pretty clear that if a few owners sell for one or many reasons (e.g., the stresses of living next to a landfill, advancing age, the threat of additional CAFOs being approved in the area, the monetary enticement), others are likely to follow. That means more and more land for potential expansion, fewer and fewer district remonstrators against expansion, etc. Expect Waste Management to build a leachate treatment plant that is sized for considerable expansion. And then -- in my opinion -- and given Waste Management's track record at Prairie View in the late 80s and early 90s (see my 11/13 post below), we're likely to see a larger and larger landfill in the massive overlay district, and perhaps even a mega-fill (see below).

Mega-fill Landfill Enabling Vote - 11/13/07

Last night I issued an alert about a story in the South Bend Tribune (11/12/2007) entitled "Landfill Overlay Tops Agenda" (1). I suggested that if the County Council approves the ordinance creating an "overlay boundary encompassing more than 1,500 acres around the landfill," and if enough landowners were willing to sell their land to the landfill in the future, Prairie View Landfill might be on its way to becoming a future "mega-fill." A 1999 article in Environmental Health Perspectives described "mega-fills" as landfills designed to "handle up to 10,000 tons of waste a day."

The two page excerpt from "Gone Tomorrow:The Hidden Life of Garbage" (2005; 3) will give you a quick picture of the nature of, and threats created by, a mega-fill. The 1998 series of articles (4) entitled "Taking in the Trash" in the Washington Post also provides an excellent introduction.

In the alert I indicated that Prairie View Landfill was accepting more and more garbage each year in the late 80s and early 90s, and was growing taller and taller. The Landfill made repeated attempts to get additional expansions, and these were fought off for several years by determined citizens (including myself). In my judgment, had citizens not opposed the repeated attempts of the owner, Waste Management, Inc., to expand the the "permitted" capacity of the landfill, Prairie View might be a mega-fill today.

When I wrote the above, I didn't have access to the specifics of what happened between 1982 and 1992. I do now. Two short sections from newsletters I wrote in April and November of 1992 (below) document the repeated attempts of the owners of Prairie View to expand the landfill. They reveal in part that Prairie View "opened in November, 1981, with a 20 year predicted lifespan. This total lifespan was increased to 43 years in December, 1986, when the owners received approval to double the height of the mound to 120 feet (making it the highest point in the country!)" The sections also reveal that following the 1986 approval, the amount dumped at the landfill more than doubled by 1990, and almost tripled by 1992.

In my judgment, had citizens not been so vigilant in the late 80s and early 90s, Prairie View would today be a vastly larger landfill, and perhaps a mega-fill. Based upon a quick review of IDEM's 2006 Solid Waste Facilities Annual Report (5), however, the amount dumped at Prairie View from in- and out-of-state sources is currently under control, whereas total waste dumped at the Newton County Landfill, the County Line Landfill (Fulton County), and a few others is now massive, if not out of control.

http://www.in.gov/idem/catalog/documents/land/far06.pdf

IDEM's 2006 Solid Waste Facilities Annual Report indicates that at Prairie View's current rate of fill, the landfill has 23.88 years of remaining capacity. But this could be rapidly diminished should the landfill dramatically increase its yearly intake -- as it did between 1986 and 1992 before citizens intervened.

If the County Council approves an ordinance tonight creating an "overlay boundary encompassing more than 1,500 acres around the landfill," and if enough landowners were willing to sell their land to the landfill in the future, Prairie View might again be on its way to becoming a future mega-fill. The ordinance should be defeated, or at the very least tabled, so that it's likely consequences can be examined.

Excerpt from April 28, 1992 Newsletter

A little history. Prairie View Landfill opened in November, 1981, with a 20 year predicted lifespan. This total lifespan was increased to 43 years in December, 1986, when the owners received approval to double the height of the mound to 120 feet (making it the highest point in the country!) The landfill owners (Waste Management/Indiana Waste Systems) again tried to expand (in size by 80 acres, and height by 30 feet) the landfill in 1989/90 and 1991 using various pretexts, but these efforts were either defeated (January 10, 1990) or tabled (July 9, 1991) by the St. Joseph County Council as a result of extensive citizen opposition. Can we really trust a corporation that tells us that our (see next paragraph) landfill will have a lifetime of 43 years, but then after 11 years, tells us that only 4 years of capacity remain?

When Prairie View opened in 1981, the landfill was supposed to be, in the words of one Waste Management vice president, "St. Joseph County site --- to provide 232,000 plus people with an environmentally sound and economical place to dispose of their solid waste."

During the last five years, the amount dumped at the landfill has more than doubled, from 774,000 cubic yards in 1986 (the year prior to expansion), to 1,701,000 in 1990. The amount dumped during January- July, 1991, already exceeds the same period in 1990. Where is this waste coming from?

Excerpt from the November 25, 1992 Newsletter

The following figures are from the St. Joseph County Auditor's Office and show the total cubic yards per year deposited at Prairie View.

Year	Cubic Yards
1982595,576
1983	615,479
1984	732,385
1985	729,075
1986	773,789
1987	1,034,967
1988	1,023,955
1989	1,242,481
1990	1,700,642
1991	1,902,521

Note that the amount taken-in jumped 34% in the year (1987) immediately following approval (December, 1986) to double capacity. Note also that the amount taken-in more than doubled (i.e., increased 120%) between 1986 and 1990. While not shown above, figures for the first nine months of 1992 (1,612,007 cy) show an 18% increase over the first nine months of 1991 (1,366,352 cy), yielding a projected (@ 18% growth) 1992 year-end total of 2,244,975 cy., almost triple the 1986 intake.

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Joseph Miller
Department of Psychology
51 Madeleva
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556

St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN

SJVGreens