Public comment ends today

PALMER — Public comment closes today on a second round of permitting for a monofill site now in its second year.

Central Monofill Services Inc. had filed new permit application after originally being denied a permit in late 2013 over concerns its permit application lacked sufficient supporting materials. The company was cited twice in May 2013 for minor offense violations of the trash and junk section of borough code. They resubmitted an application in February 2014 for the recycling site, and the planning commission is set to consider those applications at a public hearing Dec. 1.

In the meantime, the second round of applications has drawn 1,031 pages filed in support of the newest application, and elicited more than 100 comments — some in favor, some opposed — from the public, according to borough planner Susan Lee.

Should the company obtain the permit, company officials say they envision it as a threefold business. First, the area would serve as a stopping ground for material destined for the company’s Anchorage recycling facility for processing. It would also serve as the final storage destination for materials processed in Anchorage, meaning trucks would not be returning to the site empty. Finally, it could potentially serve as a resale point for used construction materials for Valley builders, according to Shane Durand, a partner of Central Recycling Services.

“We do a lot of things, a lot of trees and wood and stuff like that,” he said. “We’ve donated items to Boy Scouts who were building things.”

The Valley’s population has grown considerably, and with that comes construction and demolition debris, which could potentially overflow the Mat-Su Borough community landfill, Durand said.

“On a monthly basis, we probably process and recycle more material than the Valley Recycle Center does in a year,” he said.

Opponents of the plan, which include the nearby Gateway Community Council, say the environmental risks — about 6 million gallons of groundwater flow under the site each day, according to the company’s own hydrological analysis of the site, the aquifer has been punctured in the past, and several nearby ponds refill from that water — far outweigh any potential economic benefits.

“We realize there are things that happen in the community, that advancement needs to be made,” said community council president Stanley Gillespie. “We just want it to happen in a responsible fashion. I am concerned about the water table and things like that.”

The company’s attempt to fight citations issued to it in court for past dumping have spoiled the neighborhood’s view of the project, said council member Stephanie Nowers. (The company cleaned up past dumping, but only after the Department of Environmental Conservation became involved.) Nowers said she is sympathetic to the economic need for the project, and the company’s desire for expansion, but said she’s not sold on the location.

“Basically, it’s the wrong location for this facility because of the risk it would pose to the water and the air,” she said. “There’s a history of trouble controlling the water on this property.”

The amount of water under and near the property, combined with the company’s reticence in addressing past issues, as well as concern about the types of materials present in similar sites in other states, mean the company’s new permit application does little to allay neighbors’ fears, Nowers said.

“There also needs to be a lot of care taken about what material gets into a dump like this,” she said.

Environmental concerns shouldn’t factor into the decision, Durand said. The material in the landfill will be screened from view, he said. Potentially hazardous material would have to be removed well before being stored at the site, in accordance with Occupational Health and Safety Administration and federal EPA guidelines. The company also plans to drill monitoring wells, he said.

“This concept that there’s this 100-some foot pile of trash, that’s completely false,” he said.

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