Timing frustrates landfill inspection

The Moorcroft landfill was visited by a Department of Environmental Quality inspector last month and, as chance would have it, their arrival coincided with an enlarged "face" or open working area.

This enlargement was approximately twice the size of the accepted 50-75 feet due to the crew opening the space to level low spots and points eaten by a recent fire.

The fire was caused by combustion of yard waste mixed in the household garbage.

"It's a bad deal," Public Works Director Cory Allison said of bagging grass clippings with indoor trash. He went on, "It comes in other trucks from other companies. We have contractors coming from everywhere."

He recalled an accident caused by a similar situation in Gillette: "They had a [garbage] truck burn a few years ago from grass in the back."

Allison encourages people to separate yard waste from household garbage, saying, "We have a certain spot for grass clippings, just don't put them in the trash cans because then they go in our normal garbage and there's a possibility of a fire."

Because of this enlarged face and a couple of other small issues, the landfill did not receive high marks from this inspection, but the letter of recommendation giving the landfill crew items to improve is not expected for several weeks yet.

Allison noted that with the recommendations comes a period of time in which to complete them before the next inspection.

He is not worried as the face is currently undergoing clean-up and restructuring to proper perimeters and they will deal with any other issues as they learn of them.