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We drink from the Trinity as well
Nobody wants to talk trash, but landfills represent critically important issues for the future of our collective communities.
As owners of the Camelot Landfill in Lewisville, we have applied to the state for permission to expand the operation in order to serve the citizens of Farmers Branch as well as our surrounding communities for up to 40 more years.
Two very important things happened last week in relation to Camelot.
First, after months of study and analysis, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has declared our application to expand the landfill as "technically complete." This clears a major hurdle in the process. Technical completion means that TCEQ staff have reviewed our permit in detail to ensure it is in compliance with state and federal regulations which are established to safeguard the health, welfare and physical property of the surrounding residents and to protect the environment.
Essentially, TCEQ has signed off on the details of the application and the landfill as being sound, responsible and in good operating order.
The process now moves on to public comment then a hearing that will eventually decide the fate of this request. If anyone has questions about this very complex process, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We want you to understand how this works.
The second thing that happened last week was after sitting down and talking things through, we settled a federal lawsuit with the City of Lewisville with a promise to build a slurry wall and leachate extraction wells at the site in order to safeguard the Elm Fork of the Trinity River which flows nearby.
Some reports in the news might have led people to believe that Camelot was leaking nasty stuff into the river.
Let me be clear - that is not the case.
What is accurate is that a few years ago, our people found and reported to the state minute parts per billion of Volatile Organic (naturally occurring) Compounds (VOCs) in monitoring wells at the landfill. This is the result of landfill gas migrating through the soil, not any liquids of any kind.
How do we wrap our heads around "parts per billion?" Do this. Imagine the population of the United States - about 325 million people. Now, triple that number and pull out four people. That is parts per billion. In fact, according to the EPA, there are likely more VOCs floating around in the air of many major office buildings than were found in those monitoring wells. Still, we began a plan to reduce those VOCs and it is working. In fact, to further control landfill gas, the City installed a landfill gas collection system that has been expanded three times since 2005.
This system controls the source of the VOCs and converts that gas to energy as it also controls odors.
Installation of the slurry wall and leachate removal wells in the older portion of the landfill, as specified in the settlement, are safeguards that remove liquids from the waste and provide an additional barrier or subsurface wall along portions of the landfill.
We're doing all of this because its important.
We drink from the Trinity as well.
To contact Gary, click on his picture
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