Greenville gets 3 years to file landfill closing plan

GREENVILLE – The Department of Environmental Protection has given municipal officials three years in which to file a landfill closure plan.

Groundwater contamination is the crux for the push to close the grandfathered landfill, which has an estimated life of 30 more years.

Even though corrective actions have been taken by the town to reduce or eliminate the contamination, DEP officials said this week they are not convinced the problem will be resolved.

That message was conveyed to town officials during a meeting Wednesday with DEP officials in Bangor, according to Paula Clark of DEP’s Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management.

Joining Clark at the meeting were Karen Knutti, a DEP environmental specialist, Greenville Selectmen Bonnie DuBien and Burt Whitman and Greenville Town Manager John Simko.

“It’s not exactly the answer we wanted, but we intend to make the most of it,” Simko said Thursday. He did praise the cooperation extended by both Clark and Knutti at the meeting.

If the town could show improvement in the water quality by taking further corrective actions at the landfill within the three-year period, the DEP would entertain giving the town more time to use the facility, according to Simko.

If the groundwater has not improved in that time, the town must close the landfill, he said.

“We admitted all along that if we can’t improve water quality, we should close,” Simko said. The groundwater contamination is no less than what already is allowed for sanitary districts spray fields, he said.

Simko admitted the landfill is breaking DEP rules but the pollution is no greater than what is allowed at these other facilities, he said.

There is a regulatory definition of groundwater contamination and that applies to the landfill, Clark said.

“‘There’s no immediate threat to a water body,” she said, but added groundwater contamination is not acceptable.

Clark said a correction action plan the town submitted earlier had been reviewed by the technical staff in her office.

“We are not confident it will work,” she said.

Because of that assessment, the town has been asked to provide an alternative and a closing plan three years out, she said. Clark said the DEP certainly would be willing to look at additional data the town provided in the interim, but there are no guarantees.

Simko said the town has not exhausted all of its possible corrective actions and he is optimistic the quality of the groundwater can be improved.

He said significant improvements already have been made in how the landfill operates. Since the town took over its management from a private contractor earlier this year, improvements have been made in erosion control and litter, he said.

Still, Simko said the town must move forward and make plans for a transfer station. The best case scenario, he said, would be to design a transfer station, get it permitted by the DEP and put it in place.

Then, if the continued corrective actions improve the groundwater quality, officials could convince the DEP to allow the town the use of the landfill for the disposal of municipal solid waste (garbage) only. That move would help reduce the town’s costs, he said.

Transportation costs to haul off the municipal solid waste and the tipping fees at Norridgewock or Orrington would be the most expensive part of the operation, according to Simko. He pegged the cost at about $100,000 a year.