WASTE TASK FORCE HEARS REPORT ON COSTS FOR CLOSING CITY LANDFILL

Shutting down the Cape Girardeau landfill will cost the city at least $1.6 million over the next 30 years. That was the report of an engineering firm to the city's Solid Waste Task Force Thursday night.

"You can see we have our work cut out for us over the next six months," said City Manager J. Ronald Fischer.

The closure of the landfill centers around the recent Environmental Protection Agency regulations which were approved by the Missouri Senate in 1991, which take effect Oct. 9. The guidelines prohibit new landfills and expansion of existing sites that are situated in seismic zones and other "unstable" areas.

The regulations are a part of Senate Bill 530, a 65-page amendment to the Missouri Solid Waste Management Law, which requires the state to reduce solid waste by 40 percent by 1998.

As Oct. 9 approaches, landfill operators like the city of Cape Girardeau are preparing to close because the new law brings tough new standards for landfill construction from the EPA. In Southeast Missouri, more than a dozen landfills presently accepting waste are expected to close.

"When the regulations take affect Oct. 9, it will have a dramatic impact on landfills throughout the state," said Doug Leslie, director of public works. "Cities are suddenly realizing that this is going to be a big deal and a big problem."

Cape Girardeau has problems of its own. Namely, where to come up with the $657,000 the Burns and McDonell Waste Consultants Inc. firm of Kansas City says it will cost to close the city landfill to meet EPA and DNR regulations; not to mention the projected $56,000 per year it will cost to monitor the landfill for the next 30 years.

Rick Roberts, an engineer with the consulting firm, explained the firm's study to the task force.

Under the new regulations, the city has to place a final cover of soil over the 45-acre landfill, at least three-feet deep. Then for the next 30 years the city must have a means to drain and dispose of seepage from the decomposing material; monitor and regulate the methane production of the landfill; maintain plant life on the cover soil; and check ground water samples for contamination.

Under previously established Missouri regulations, the city is already draining and disposing of seepage and monitoring the release of methane gas into the environment. This process will need to be updated to comply with the new regulations, Roberts said.

Aside from covering the landfill, Roberts suggested the city purchase another 50 feet of land beyond the current 50-foot buffer zone, to make compliance with methane regulations easier.

"If you expand your buffer zone to 100 feet, it will give you that much more land to work with if and when other regulations come down," Roberts said. "Also, methane count is figured from the edge of the buffer zone; if you are 50 feet further away from your present border, it will make compliance with Missouri's stringent regulations that much easier."

The plan will now go to the city council for approval, after which it will be forwarded to the DNR for final approval. Roberts suggested that the city not wait for DNR approval, and begin implementing the plan immediately.

"You only have six months from Oct. 9 to come up to code with the EPA regulations," Roberts said. "Three months of that time will be bad weather, where construction will be slow, if it's possible at all.

"DNR gave us a verbal indication that this plan will be approved after it is submitted by the city," he said.

Fischer felt that the city could approve the $657,000 price tag of the initial closing without a public vote or tax incentive.

"Interest rates are low now," he said. "If we could float a bond issue or sell bonds for the next 20 years, using the proposed Fire Station No. 3 as collateral, we could probably get by.

"But I'm just talking here," he said. "We'll have to sit down and find the money."

The city's transfer station will be availed to some local communities after the Oct. 9 deadline, until a regional landfill can be developed or other plans are made. It will charge $30 per ton to communities allowed to use the station.

"We can handle some of the communities' waste, but not the whole region," Fischer said. "We're going to have to find an alternative soon."