County may seek extension on Glenns Ferry landfill

Elmore County Commissioners admit that it will be a challenge to bring the Glenns Ferry landfill into compliance with State and Federal regulations and correct deficiencies found at the landfill (during a recent inspection), by the April deadline.

Commissioner Larry Rose said that they (the commissioners) were pleased with the progress so far by the current operators to clean up the landfill and operate it properly.

"It will be a challenge to do everything that needs to be done out there by April", Rose admitted, "and we may have to ask for an extension of time to correct the problems."

The joint inspection report by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Central District Health Department (CDHD) gave the county a deadline of April 11 to correct the deficiencies cited including lack of sufficient daily cover over waste, training for operators and employees in the identification and proper disposal of hazardous waste, stormwater run-off/run-on design plan, methane gas monitoring and legal documentation of the landfill property line as well as verification that no solid waste has been placed within 200 feet of the adjacent property line.

Regarding the soil necessary to provide the required six inches of daily cover, Rose explained that a lot of soil has been brought in from other places and that the operators were currently working on a 200-foot-long trench that would yield the soil needed for daily cover.

"There is enough dirt there to cover Mountain Home" Rose said, "and with normal daily maintenance, we don't anticipate a cost to the county to correct the problem."

A review of past inspections conducted at the landfill confirm that the lack of daily cover on waste had been an on-going problem for the previous operator, Mark Simons.

After the inspection in December, methane gas monitoring took place, indicating no methane gas was detected at any of the monitoring stations.

Another deficiency noted was the lack of training of the operators and landfill personnel in the identification and proper disposal methods for hazardous waste.

Rose said that Alan Crane of Snake River Rubbish, LLC has been working with Fred Perez of Idaho Waste Systems and manager of the Simco Road landfill to find sources of hazardous material training.

The lack of hazardous material training historically was a problem for the prior operator, with inspection reports consistently citing a deficiency in that area.

During regular inspections over the past few years, it was observed several times by CDHD inspector Marty Jones that the operator had not received hazardous material training.

With the landfill operator and personnel unable to correctly identify sources of regulated hazardous waste, due to the lack of training, an undetermined amount of harmful waste could have been disposed of at the facility over the years.

When asked if the presence of hazardous waste could pose a risk to public health and the environment, Rose responded that he didn't think it was a concern.

"Like a lot of things, it just gets put on the back burner, 'the squeaky wheel gets the oil'," Rose explained about the required training,"It was a requirement and they were supposed to have the training."

The commissioners are considering using the services of an engineer to survey the landfill property and determine precise property lines.

That is an item that has been cited continuously in the inspection reports but as of yet, neither the county or the state agencies seem to know the exact boundaries of the property, which is vital in determining the required set back distance from the adjoining properties.

Rose said that the county might seek land from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to increase the current size of the property.

The 60-acre parcel of land where the landfill is located was originally leased from the BLM and in 1988, the BLM granted a land patent to Elmore County for the permanent use of the property.