Next step in landfill decision

Moorcroft Mayor Ben Glenn and HDR Engineering’s Heath Turbiville attended the June meeting of the State Land and Investment Board (SLIB) in Cheyenne last Thursday to stand with their application for the 75/25% $250,000 grant.

Due to Turbiville’s diligence, according to the mayor, Moorcroft was on a list of municipalities recommended for funding through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). This money will purchase a preliminary landfill site investigation.

According to Glenn, “This site enquiry is a necessary next step regardless the direction the landfill takes. The DEQ is on board with either way we go – they will back us, they just want to know it’s the right choice for us.”

“The state is still working well with us,” Glenn later commented, “trying to make sure we’re all taken care of. I felt that they were really open to hearing whatever anybody had to say. We stayed for the better part of the day just watching and listening to the other towns and what they had going.”

Among the other small Wyoming towns seeking assistance, Dayton was asking for additional funding for their lagoon project, a position in which Moorcroft found itself not too long ago.

“I don’t think we’re alone in this battle; everywhere around the state is dealing with about the same thing we are,” Glenn said.

While the mayor is uncertain when the actual funds will be available, he is confident that the project will be moving forward within the next couple of months. The other advantage with this money is that whatever isn’t spent can be returned without obligation or penalty.

The mayor spoke candidly about the ARPA money that many entities are anticipating, “If we were able to capture some of that, we could move forward with this project [keeping the landfill open], but I don’t see us moving forward if we can’t capture some of that.”

A significant issue with the ARPA funds is the lack of any availability date.

“They seem to be taking their sweet time on that,” Glenn stated, “but as far as our time, we are running out of space in our landfill.”

Speaking of the possibility of closure, Glenn opined that Moorcroft will be able to withstand the situation relatively well, saying, “If this landfill goes away, there will be a little pinch – only that you can’t go to the landfill any time you want with a pickup load of trash.”

Even with closure, the town will maintain a construction and demolition (C&D) pit onsite.

However, he spoke to the reason the town has fought so hard to keep the facility since the realization of this possible outcome was first discussed by the council in 2012: “It’s funny that we’re trying to take care of the county – the Buckmiller Subdivision, Henderson Subdivision, [etc] that are in our local area. They’re going to have no choice, they’re going to have to transfer somewhere else. Moorcroft thinks we’re all together with everyone in the county, but maybe that doesn’t reciprocate across the board.”

“It went really well,” Glenn said of the Cheyenne meeting. “It’s kind of neat to live in a state where we can just go down there and see our legislative body at the SLIB and talk to people face to face.”