EPA: County, firm share landfill blame

Inaction by Clark County and the company responsible for the closed Sunrise landfill posed an imminent hazard to Southern Nevada's drinking water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

After severe flooding in September, trash, medical wastes, syringes and sewage sludge burst out of the landfill and plunged 2 miles downhill into the Las Vegas Wash, threatening the area's drinking water supply, the EPA said Tuesday in a 51-page enforcement order.

New homes are within a mile of the unlined landfill's western boundary and Las Vegas High School is 1 1/4 miles northwest of the site, the EPA said. The 720-acre landfill is 15 miles east of downtown Las Vegas.

The EPA found Republic-Silver State Disposal Services Inc., Republic DUMPCo. and the county's Public Works Department violated the federal Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation Recovery Act. Failing to meet the EPA's orders carries penalties of up to $32,500 a day. DUMPCo. stands for Disposal Urban Maintenance Processing Co., the company that manages the site.

The federal agency ordered an immediate cleanup. A comprehensive plan of action, requiring the county Public Works Department and the company to take action within days, is included. For example, plans to deal with water must be handed to the EPA in 45 days and a request for a meeting on the wastes at the site comes in 10 days.

"The erosion and trash washout that occurred during last year's floods is entirely preventable," EPA Deputy Regional Administrator Laura Yoshii said. EPA inspectors found a swath of trash during a November investigation of the landfill.

The state and the EPA began examining conditions at the landfill after consultants for the Bureau of Land Management, owner of the site, discovered cracks in the cap to protect the 25 million tons of trash buried since 1992 and escaping methane gas was detected almost two years ago. One crack was 100 feet long.

Silver State stopped accepting waste such as trash, sewage sludge, asbestos and soils laced with oil in 1993, but did not put a required impermeable cap in place until 1995.

While the company's plan to close the landfill required air and ground water monitoring, there is no such system in place, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Director Allen Biaggi said.

"The bottom line is we worked real hard to bring everyone together, but were unsuccessful for over a year," Biaggi said. "It's been a frustrating process. We know what needs to be done."

The state will continue working with the EPA and the company to repair and secure the landfill, Biaggi said.

After the Sept. 22 flood, the state issued a citation on Oct. 5, ordering Silver State to redesign the landfill's cover. In February the company submitted a plan to control surface water at the landfill, but the state said it was incomplete and inadequate.

The Clark County Health District also ordered Republic-Silver State on Oct. 6 to control erosion and get rid of exposed wastes. The company presented a plan in November that was rejected by both the health district and the state. No work has begun to correct the problems.

The state also ordered the company to install ground water monitoring wells in October, but drilling those wells has just begun. The state said the proposed water sampling is only the first step.

The EPA also discovered that there is no storm water prevention plan for the Sunrise landfill, which should have been in place by 1994.

Silver State spokeswoman Lee Haney of Rogich Communications Group said the company will review the EPA order carefully, but the company has already started to work on ground water monitoring and plans to repair the cap.

"At first glance, we're not surprised" by the order, Haney said.

Assistant County Manager Rick Holmes said county officials met with EPA representatives in San Francisco a week ago, trying to avert the enforcement order.

"Apparently, things were not happening as fast as EPA wanted it to happen and not to the extent EPA wanted," he said.

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