FortBendNow.com

Precinct 1 Commission Tom Stavinoha won’t be at a Dec. 7 public hearing on plans to more than double the size of Blue Ridge Landfill, but he said Tuesday he’ll deliver the message that Fort Bend County won’t oppose the expansion.

County officials reached a settlement agreement in 1992 with the owners of the original landfill, saying they would not seek party status in opposing the original permit, Stavinoha said in a letter to be presented at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality public hearing. “Fort Bend County, this year in 2006, will not seek party status in the expansion of the site,” the letter states.

At issue is an application by Blue Ridge Landfill owner BFI to expand the facility from its current 530-acre, 58-foot-high capacity to 784 acres, with refuse piled up to 170 feet high. The landfill sits on a total of 1,345 acres at 2200 F.M. 521, along Fort Bend County’s eastern edge a mile north of Fresno.

Some residents of Shadow Creek Ranch and surrounding neighborhoods have spoken out against the landfill expansion, as has state Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Richmond, who led an informal meeting of landfill opponents earlier this month at Willowridge High School.

TCEQ Executive Director Glenn Shankle has completed a technical review of BFI’s application and prepared a draft permit outlining conditions under which BFI could operate the expanded landfill, according to the agency’s web site. “The executive director has made a preliminary decision that this draft permit, if issued, meets all statutory and regulatory requirements,” the agency said.

Because BFI appears to be in regulatory compliance, Stavinoha said, he believes it’s unlikely neighborhood opponents of the expansion could stop it. He also believes BFI is taking measures to keep the landfill safe and environmentally sound.

And, BFI has contributed significant money to the county and the communities around Blue Ridge Landfill.

Stavinoha said Tuesday approval of the permit would give BFI (which is owned by waste management giant Allied Waste Industries Inc.) the ability to handle an additional 141 million cubic yards of material – or another 40 years of capacity.

Much of the material that fills the site comes from Harris County, Stavinoha said. But Fort Bend County gains 18 cents for each cubic yard that enters the landfill, no matter where it comes from. Those “tipping fees” amounted to between $400,000 and $500,000 for the county last year. And, said Stavinoha, “most if not all of those funds have been spent in the Fresno area where the landfill is located.”

If the expansion is approved, Stavinoha said, BFI has agreed to gradually increase the tipping fees it pays Fort Bend County – up to 30 cents per cubic yard.

The commissioner said under terms if an agreement with the waste management company, a 25-foot landscaped buffer zone would surround the landfill property. He said three feet of compacted clay covered with 60-mil polyethylene and topped with a leachate collection system forms the foundation of the landfill.

“Eventually, 49 water-monitoring devices will take samples of underground water around the perimeter of the landfill,” Stavinoha’s letter to the TCEQ says. “Odor-absorbing chemicals are sprayed over the landfill to neutralize offensive smell.”

And, he added, “next to the landfill is Shadow Creek Ranch. They are presently developing 3,500 acres between F.M. 521 and State Highway 288 as a residential community. Homes are selling in the $250,000 price range.”

One Shadow Creek Ranch resident, identified publicly only as “Anita,” has organized a group called the Coalition Against Blue Ridge Landfill Expansion, which has set up the CABRLE web site and is holding a meeting on the landfill issue at 7 p.m. tonight, at Quail Run Community Center, 16748 Quail Park Drive, in Missouri City.

“We need to report foul odors, litter, trucking issues, rodent issues or any other concerns related to the BFI Landfill immediately as they occur, every day if necessary,” the group says in one post, which includes a link to the TCEQ complaint form. “We need to be heard.”

County officials reached a settlement agreement in 1992 with the owners of the original landfill, saying they would not seek party status in opposing the original permit, Stavinoha said in a letter to be presented at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality public hearing. “Fort Bend County, this year in 2006, will not seek party status in the expansion of the site,” the letter states.

At issue is an application by Blue Ridge Landfill owner BFI to expand the facility from its current 530-acre, 58-foot-high capacity to 784 acres, with refuse piled up to 170 feet high.