Landfill feasibility

["BOCC" <rrausch@latah.id.us>]

The Board of County Commissioners is looking into the  feasibility of a
regional
county-owned landfill for Latah county.  Don Bafus, the County's Solid Waste
Coordinator, shares some of his findings through this letter.  Thank you for
your interest.   Loreca J. Stauber



August 16, 2000



Dear Latah County Concerned Citizens:

In response to your concerns about the future of solid waste in Latah County
and the research being done on a possible county-owned landfill, please
consider the following facts.

Latah County’s present disposal contract expires in September 2003.  The
Board of County Commissioners are reviewing options to ensure that it is
able to provide the most environmentally-sound and economically sustainable
solid waste program for Latah County Citizens as provided in “Idaho Code
31-4402”.  Continuing export of Latah’s solid waste will likely result in
increased fee assessment for each household and require continued county
subsidy of other programs integral to sound and responsible solid waste
management.  Looking into the feasibility of a landfill system for the
county now, three years before the present export contract expires, enables
the county to consider options sufficiently based on facts.

We talk about and accept regional solutions for health care, weed control,
flood control and disaster services.  Why not solid waste?

The Board, working closely with the County’s Solid Waste Coordinator, is
looking into the feasibility of a county-owned landfill.  Presently, the
County is paying $55.00 to dispose of waste and $0.50 per account per month
for program costs to the City of Moscow.  These costs do not include
collection cost, which is $7.81 per household per month or the cost of the
bulky waste program, which is about $2.00 a month per resident.
Cumulatively these cost amounts to a monthly assessment of $15.10 per
household per week based on a 50-lbs./week waste.

The proposed program being offered to Latah County would allow free disposal
for all rural county residents and an estimated tipping fee of $25.00 per
ton.  The new tipping fee also includes a host fee of $2.20 per ton that
will be paid to the county.  Revenue collected from the host fee could be
used to pay for the property.

It would take three to four years to develop a landfill and it would take
six to seven years before the county could reach the 50,000 tons needed to
operate at $25.00 a ton tipping fee.  No, the county can not guarantee the
tonnage, but at the present time some of the surrounding counties are paying
$16.50 per ton for hauling to Central Washington and Oregon.  This does not
include disposal cost or transfer station cost.  All of these contracts
contain allowance for adjustments each year for fuel increases and labor
(PPI or CPI).

Example: Hauling costs would drop $11.00 per ton to adjacent counties, but
the disposal cost would increase from $19.50 a ton to an estimated $25.00 a
ton leaving overall savings of $8.50 a ton.  So if Whitman County has 25,000
tons per year x $8.50 a ton = $212,500.00 per year savings.

The landfill would be designed under the new federal RCRA regulations.
These regulations require strict construction and monitoring requirements to
reduce the chance of groundwater contamination, closure requirements and
post closure requirements.  District Health Department and Division of
Environmental Quality would closely monitor development and operation of the
landfill.  A new landfill would provide a long-term solution, 100 years
plus.  This would also allow us to monitor the old landfill.

The tipping fee includes a financial assurance fund of $2.50 a ton, which
will go to the County Treasurer’s office to be invested.  This fund can only
be used for the landfill project and must not be used for any other purpose,
but for closure, monitoring or any corrective action, if needed.

The increase of traffic has been researched and the actual increase would be
four enclosed semi-trucks per day based on 50,000 tons.

Current litter on the highway to the landfill is generated by self-haulers
because of exposed loads.

Self-haulers will continue to use the current transfer station, the
semi-trucks and garbage trucks will be the only ones to haul directly to the
landfill cells.

Latah County will have control over the operation of the landfill and there
will be a waste handling agreement.

The contractor will have appropriate bonds and financial credit to support
his proposal for developing and operating the landfill.  Similar to the way
the City of Moscow and Latah Sanitation, Inc. built the 1.4 million-dollar
transfer station.

All of these facts address some of the decisions that need to be made by the
Board of County Commissioners.  Latah County would not have to raise solid
waste fees for years, but would have revenue to enhance solid waste
programs.  We could have a permanent household hazardous waste facility,
reuse center, landscape and asphalt the present access road to the facility.

Sincerely,



Don Bafus
Solid Waste Coordinator