DEC rejects B&E landfill permit application

MEADOW LAKES — The state has rejected a landfill application for a contentious gravel dump and landfill along Pittman Road.

In a letter dated Aug. 15, Municipal Solid Waste Specialist Kym Bronson identified six areas in which the B&E Construction application did not meet Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation standards. The gravel pit and landfill had contracted to provide gravel from the pit to a borough road construction project, until it was discovered in April that the company didn’t have a gravel pit permit, or a permit to operate as a landfill.

The DEC decision means the company has until Sept. 1 to submit a plan to remove the waste, and until Nov. 15 to remove a 50-foot wide by 170-foot long by 25-foot tall pile of debris.

According to the letter:

• The company did not submit the $294 permit application review fee.

• In the section dealing with location information, the company: did not clearly mark wells used to estimate groundwater depth on a map; did not identify an alternative source of potable water; and did not clearly label a map of the 100-year floodplain.

• In the section dealing with facility design, the company did not provide well-defined dimensions for disposal areas; didn’t prove a cross-section of planned excavations or surface water control areas; did not explain how the site was protected from natural disasters; did not complete calculations about the landfill size; did not estimate the maximum amount of waste the site could potentially collect; and gave an estimated daily collection rate more than five times the legal limit, according to DEC documents.

• In the section pertaining to operations, the company submitted documents containing sentences that “were not complete, creating confusion within the document.” In a section asking for a plan to dispose of “non-regulated asbestos-containing material, (non-RACM)” the lone sentence read, “if non-RACM is,” according to the DEC letter.

• In the section pertaining to a site closure plan, the company didn’t indicate a timeline for closure, or provide a financial responsibility mechanism for closure costs.

Bronson, who signed the rejection letter, along with an earlier July 9 correspondence notifying B&E, said occasions where landfills or gravel pits were operated without adequate permitting were unusual.

B&E had adequate time to address the permit, but failed to do so, Bronson said.

“We provided them with a previous letter about some of the weaknesses,” she said. “They had the option, and we just felt they did not address enough of the things we identified.”

For example, the company provided abundant well information, but no map of well sites, Bronson said. While the letter also mandates that the company provide a plan that “must include how any asbestos-containing material will be identified and handled to prevent release of fibers to the air,” the company has told DEC the construction and demolition materials at the site don’t contain asbestos, Bronson said.

“At this point we’re working under the idea that it’s a possibility,” she said. “They have assured us that none of the demos have asbestos.”

“It’s something to think about,” Bronson said.

The Meadow Lakes site had operated as both a waste dump and a gravel pit until earlier this year, when borough and DEC officials discovered that the site had been permitted for neither use adequately. Previously issued administrative permits had expired earlier in the year.

The borough rejected in July a request for an additional administrative permit for the site, but said the company was eligible to apply for a conditional use permit, a process which takes more time and resources, and allows the borough planning commission to interject.

Residents of the surrounding area have expressed concern about the potential for excavation, disposal, or some combination of the two to affect groundwater in the surrounding communities.

Officials with B&E were unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.