Blue ridge land fill (Houston, Austin: attorney, litigation, versus)

[Nathan_b]

Any update on Blue ridge land fill near Shadow Creek Ranch.

[Timnwendy]

This following article was posted yesterday on the Pearland Journal website. I
am still thinking about it, but if Blue Ridge adheres to its part of the
agreement then it seems at least a partial victory for the homeowners nearby. ~ Tim

City reaches Blue Ridge Landfill agreement

Updated: 05.20.09

The City of Pearland has reached a settlement agreement with Blue Ridge Landfill
TX, L.P. regarding the City's challenge of Blue Ridge's permit application to
expand its existing landfill.

The application was previously determined by the staff of the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to meet all state requirements.

"The City initiated this litigation in October 2007 with the singular purpose of
protecting its residents, especially those who reside on the west side of
Pearland nearer to the landfill. Since then, the City has expended a substantial
amount of resources and effort contesting Blue Ridge's permit," said City
Attorney Darrin Coker.

The City retained outside counsel from a prominent law firm in Austin, and hired
two consultants with expertise in landfill design and operations, ground and
surface water hydrology, and air quality. The City's vigorous pursuit of the
litigation encouraged Blue Ridge to seek compromise at the bargaining table,
where it offered meaningful changes to its permit - changes that the TCEQ would
not have required.

When Pearland City Council initially adopted the resolution opposing the
expansion of the landfill, the following items were listed as reasons for the
City's opposition: the proposed height of the landfill, the increase in traffic,
the potential for groundwater contamination, and other potential health risks to
nearby residents. The concessions offered by Blue Ridge do address all of these
concerns.

"Obviously, minimizing the potential health risks of air and water contamination
by the landfill is of paramount importance to the City," said Coker. "To that
end, the City has won major concessions by Blue Ridge. First, Blue Ridge has
agreed to reduce the total amount of Class I waste that it accepts by a full 50
percent. Blue Ridge has agreed to forgo less effective daily methods of covering
Class I waste to minimize air emissions--methods acceptable to the TCEQ--and
will instead cover all such waste with six inches of soil at the end of every
day. Additionally, Blue Ridge will perform quarterly surface air-emission
monitoring of landfill areas that contain Class I waste—testing not required by
the TCEQ."

"If Blue Ridge places Class I waste in certain excluded areas, it has agreed to
construct a compacted clay liner to contain such waste, with a minimum thickness
of 10 feet, or seven feet thicker than required by the TCEQ. Blue Ridge has also
agreed to construct ten additional monitoring wells to supplement the 33 new
monitoring wells proposed for the landfill expansion to detect any possible
migration of leachate," Coker explained.

Regarding the height, although the permit from the TCEQ allows the landfill to
be 170 feet high (an issue unlikely to be addressed by the TCEQ), Blue Ridge has
agreed to limit the height to a maximum of 60 feet for 12 years, and then a
maximum of 130 feet for an additional eight years.

Additionally, Blue Ridge has agreed to place grade breaks and landscape
screening along the eastern slope of the landfill to minimize the visual impact
of the landfill's height. Regarding the increased traffic, the TCEQ permit
contained no restriction on hours of operation, thus allowing Blue Ridge to
operate its landfill 24 hours a day, seven days week.

Under the settlement agreement, Blue Ridge has agreed to be closed on Sundays
and limit the hours of its operations during the rest of the week, thereby
reducing the amount of traffic generated by its operations. Blue Ridge has also
agreed to prohibit its waste trucks from using Shadow Creek Parkway, east of FM
521. Truck traffic will not be allowed to use the section of Broadway between SH
288 and FM 521, which is designated as a no-truck route in the City. Blue Ridge
will be responsiblefor paying $1,000.00 in damages to the City, per truck, for
each instance one of its trucks travels on a prohibited route.

"Blue Ridge's offered concessions demonstrate their willingness to work with the
City in good faith, and to achieve an outcome acceptable to all stakeholders",
said Coker. "City Council made the difficult decision to accept the settlement
after careful consideration, weighing the uncertainty of proceeding through the
contested hearing before the TCEQ versus accepting a negotiated resolution
containing the numerous significant concessions outlined above."

"These concessions substantially strengthen various safeguards beyond what TCEQ
requires through its permitting system, and well beyond the terms of the draft
permit previously approved by the TCEQ staff," Coker concluded.

Coker says that it's important to note that, in the end, Pearland City Council
was persuaded by the advice of its own retained counsel and experts who agreed
that Blue Ridge's permit, as approved by the TCEQ staff, is compliant with
applicable laws and regulations. The City's burden at a contested hearing would
be to demonstrate that the permit application fails to meet applicable
standards; a burden the City's experts believe would be virtually impossible to
meet.

Should the City choose to proceed with the litigation and fail to meet its
burden, Blue Ridge could be entitled to expand under a permit granted by the
TCEQ without implementing any of the concessions it offered as part of the
settlement.

"While City Council recognizes that there will be some residents who will not be
satisfied with anything short of a complete victory at a contested hearing, the
Council could not in good conscience decline a settlement that offers the
residents of the City significant concessions just to litigate a case, the loss
of which would potentially leave the City and its residents nothing to show for
their efforts," said Coker.

[EasilyAmused]

eeesh. That place is going to be a monster. What a "view."

[nessen]

This was on the news. This is what I found from CBS:
Pearland settles lawsuit over landfill | LOCAL NEWS | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas (http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou090521_tnt_brazoria-county-pearland-landfill.2072b64.html - broken link)

It's pretty short and to the point about their agreement.

I will be impressed if they actually do cover the land fill with 4 inches of dirt every single night.

[Poltracker]

The author of that paper article should use proper terminology when writing. There is no such thing as Class 1 waste. There is Type 1 waste which is basically putrescible waste (food waste). Does not appear to be any restrictions on Type IV and Special Wastes. The traffic issue is also interesting because they agreed to pay a fine for their trucks. Do folks realize that other companies also truck waste to the landfill? Gotta love the loopholes. The issue about the clay liner is interesting too as synthetic liners should have been required in addition to the clay liner, maybe the author just left this out since there was no change in it.