O-2006-2863 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF LA PORTE LANDFILL FEASIBILITY INTRODUCTION The City of La Porte currently owns a permitted landfill site adjacent to Bay Area Boulevard in the Bayport Industrial District. The site, permitted in 1988, has never been opened. The Permit was obtained through the recommendation of a Solid Waste Disposal Plan, dated March 1983, which recommended the permitting and acquisition of a sanitary landfill to replace landfills scheduled for closure, owned by Harris County and a privately-owned landfill in Baytown. In 1993, TNRCC and EPA requirements (Subtitle D) mandated that the City modify its permit to comply with the new regulations. Because the City did not intend to open the site until current private landfill capacity became unavailable or cost prohibitive, the City requested clarification of its need to modify the permit. The TNRCC responded that the City did not need to modify the permit to comply with Subtitle D requirements until it intended to open the facility (letter attached). The City of La Porte has relied on this response in its dealing with the landfill permit. Subsequent to this, the TNRCC established the Municipal Solid Waste Permit and RegIstration Modification Rules (MOD Rules) which will require permitted but unopened sites to update their permit to Subtitle D, through a modification, by May 19, 2003. Update of permits after this date would require a major amendment. A modification is an administrative update, and is approved by TNRCC staff. A major amendment is similar to the original permit process, complete with public hearings, the possibility of a contested hearing, and requires approval by the Commission. The FY 2001-02 CIP Budget includes $100,000 for this effort. In an effort to avoid unnecessary expenditure of funds, the City met with its attorney and TNRCC Chairman Huston and Commissioner Marquez to present the City's position that it was exempt from this Rule, based on the prior letter received from the TNRCC (letter attached). The Commissioners were sympathetic to the City's position, but were concerned that they could not dictate policy to future commissioners. It was apparent that the Commission would not exempt La Porte from the new MOD rules, and that the City must move forward with obtaining a modification of it's landfill permit prior to the deadline to avoid the major amendment process. On January 22, 2002, City staff met with HDR, the Engineer, to discuss a proposed scope of work to modify the Permit. After extensive discussion, it was apparent that the cost to open and operate the landfill under the new subtitle D rules and regulations adopted subsequent to Subtitle D would greatly increase costs, and reduce capacity. Rather than move forward with developing a contract to modify the Permit, the decision was made to update start-up and O&M costs to operate the landfill under current regulations, and develop a cost comparison to determine if a City-owned and operated landfill was still a viable disposal option.