EPA order aims to avoid trash-laden flood

The operator of Sunrise landfill was ordered Monday to submit plans for covering the closed trash dump and installing storm controls to prevent a repeat of the 1998 incident when floodwaters ripped open the earthen cap and carried garbage and smelly debris to the Las Vegas Wash.

The order by the Environmental Protection Agency requires Republic Services of Southern Nevada and Clark County to immediately send plans to the agency for review and approval.

The EPA wants the first monitoring wells in place in about six months, said Steve Wall, an environmental engineer in the EPA's regional Pollution Prevention and Solid Waste Office in San Francisco.

The cost of the planning task is estimated to be $7 million, but Wall said more than $29 million is needed to implement the plans.

Republic Services officials have been at odds over who will pay for the work, which includes installing surface-water controls and a durable cap that can withstand the Mojave Desert's arid climate.

"What we're doing here is saying regardless of the dispute as to who pays for the work, we're ordering this work to begin now," Wall said by phone late Monday.

Bob Coyle, Republic Services' area president, told county commissioners in May that the company was willing only to shell out another $7 million to fix the dump site. Republic agreed in 1999 to pay $36 million toward the landfill in return for a 15-year contract extension, and so far the company has sunk $29 million into the site, Coyle said.

Ratepayers, he argued, should chip in the remaining $29.3 million -- perhaps through a surcharge -- to make the former trash dump environmentally safe.

Coyle then refused to sign a pact, known as a consent decree, between Republic, the county and federal agencies. The decree absolved the county of responsibility for the landfill's problems while holding Republic liable for erasing the site's hazards.

Republic issued a statement Monday confirming its willingness to meet EPA's initial demands and pay up to $7 million in work.

"For the past nine years, Republic Services has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency to prepare and analyze reports leading to final closure of the Sunrise Landfill," the statement reads. "The total cost for this work is estimated at $6.7 million, which Republic Services has already obligated itself to perform."

In an EPA news release, regional Waste Division Director Jeff Scott said the order directs Republic to begin stabilizing the landfill to protect public health while the affected parties move toward an agreement to remedy all the site's problems.

The 440-acre landfill was run on behalf of the county by entities that are now part of Republic Services. The dump on the eastern outskirts of the valley closed in 1993 after about 25 million tons of trash, solid waste, contaminated soil and asbestos were deposited there.

Then on Sept. 11, 1998, a 100-year storm that flooded parts of the valley ripped open a swath of the landfill's earthen cap and carried off a heap of rotting refuse, spreading it over a four-mile stretch to Las Vegas Wash.

The wash empties into Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's chief supply of drinking water.

For years, Republic Services and the EPA bickered over closure plans that the EPA said were inadequate. Republic Services accused federal regulators of constantly shifting their cleanup criteria.

In 1999, the EPA cited Clark County's Public Works Department and Republic's predecessor, Silver State Disposal Service, for federal violations at the landfill.

That year, with the EPA bearing down, Republic Services and the county struck a bargain in which the company would pay $36 million toward fixing the site in return for having its service contract extended through 2035.

Questions of how much Republic Services should pay beyond the 1999 agreement are swirling around unresolved, Commissioner Tom Collins said.

For one, Collins asked, did the EPA change the standards since 1999 for closing landfills that affect the costs? Or did Republic Service's refusal to sign the consent decree leave the county holding part of the bag? And does the company's refusal to sign merely increase its financial liability?

In any case, the company needs to prove why county ratepayers should pay a surcharge to help with the cleanup, Collins said.

Also, residents in unincorporated areas should not bear the total $29 million expense, Collins said, because much of the garbage that wound up in the landfill came from two cities.

"If Clark County does have liability, then Las Vegas and North Las Vegas should step up as well," Collins said.

If the cities themselves do not chip in, then perhaps Republic Services should pay a portion based on a per-capita rate that covers the population of those two cities, Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said. For instance, the company might pay a fee for every household in the cities.

Unincorporated residents might then pick up the remaining tab, Woodbury said.

That is, if the company can make a strong enough case for diverting some of the financial burden, Woodbury said.

"I'm not ready to sign on to any proposal like that unless it's made clear it's not Republic's sole responsibility."

The most important thing is to comply with the EPA's demands while working through the decade-old sticking points, Woodbury said.

"This is a difficult issue to find resolution," he said.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.