DEQ gives more options for landfill

The council touched again on the future of the Moorcroft landfill at the meeting on Monday night. HDR Engineering’s Heath Turbiville reported on two possible funding avenues that will be opening for application for landfill projects in the near future if the governing body chooses that direction.

According to Turbiville, one option not previously considered is the $50 million federal ARPA program. This program is scheduled for water and sewer projects, but after a conversation with Craig McOmie from DEQ’s Casper office, “it sounded like he was thinking maybe it would be an option for this project.”

ARPA offers an 85/15 grant with the town responsible for the 15% match. This funding source must be entirely expended by 2026, allowing Moorcroft a relatively small window of three to four years to complete the work.

The second potential financial assistance if infrastructure funding that is anticipated to become available this coming winter or next spring. Turbiville passed along the limited information he had on this funding.

“They’re saying that there’s a higher percentage of grant or principal forgiveness available for it too, but we don’t know what those percentages are...This project would be eligible for that,” he said.

He said the infrastructure funding will be available for five to eight years, “so you’d have a little more time”.

The town’s request for the SRF loan of $250,000 will be voted on next month in Cheyenne. This money is specifically for preliminary investigative work ascertaining the viability of the site for another landfill.

Turbiville advised council members, “If you’re proceeding on [building a new landfill], there should not be any problem getting that loan approved at that meeting.”

The engineer answered Councilman Dale Petersen’s concern about the immediacy of Moorcroft’s approaching deadlines of space and time at the landfill.

“When we met with the DEQ, we discussed that and we’re working on another vertical expansion that would allow you more space and time in order to be able to get to the point where either you have another one built or you are closing and transferring to another facility,” he said.

Turbiville again suggested the DEQ may consider this action an answer, “As has been the discussion all along, they really would like to know what your path forward is. If that application stands, then, that will give them a direction.”

A problem with taking the $250,000 is that will give DEQ a direction and the town will be removed from the list of closure sites to be assisted. Moorcroft is high on the list to be funded to close and transfer, but if the town chooses to try to remain open, that money will move to the next town on this list.

According to Public Works Director Cory Allison, “Even if we decide we’re not going to do that, we’d still have pay for our closure – they wouldn’t pay for anything.” Turbiville admitted that is likely, but advised verifying with McOmie.

“I don’t know that you would completely go off, but you would go off for this year,” he said.

The possibility of another expansion will have an effect on the budget because, as Allison stated, “If we go that route, we’re going to have to have a full-time guy out there who stays on that trash or we’re not going to be able to keep up with it.”

This expansion will not increase the height, but will make the west side of the existing mound steeper, according to Turbiville.

Glenn suggested closing the gate earlier on weekdays, “If you could have it shut down earlier and give them just a little more time to cover.” For days when the contracted garbage trucks come in at later hours, he suggested closing to the public while allowing the trucks to dump as the compactor is working.

Allison explained that there must be a dedicated individual running the compactor constantly along with a second person in the scale house to mitigate the flying debris with any degree of success, saying, “We wouldn’t have to have them out there every day for all the hours, but that’s the absolute best way to do it.”

If approved and built, this will be the third vertical expansion and will have an anticipated life span of two years at current tonnage.

As for the choice of keeping the landfill open or closing the gates at the end of this expansion and moving forward with closure, Mayor Ben Glenn expressed the concern of the entire council, “It’s just such a double edged sword, it hard to know which way is the right way.”

“It’s only a tough decision because we’re thinking about the whole county,” admitted Glenn. “If I break it down to only the Moorcroft residents, it’s a pretty simple thought, we just transfer – direct haul it to Gillette or wherever. It leaves Moorcroft and we don’t think about it, but we have so many of these outlying subdivisions that we consider Moorcroft and we want to take care of here.”

The mayor acknowledged the danger of closure: “Once this landfill goes away, it’s gone; that’s all there is to it.”