City submits landfill closure application

The city continues to move forward with closing the city’s landfill.

Last night, the Green River City Council voted to approve submission of a landfill closure permit application to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The landfill will close in 2017, with the city switching to a transfer station that will haul the city’s garbage to the Solid Waste District No. 1 landfill outside Rock Springs.

Mike Nelson, director of public works for the city, said he received an approved permit for the transfer station yesterday, saying he hopes the station construction and landfill closure can be rolled into one project.

The hope is if the city demonstrates its readiness to start, the state will move the city higher on its grant funding list for landfill closures.

Despite the landfill’s eventual closure, Councilman Gary Killpack and other members of the council wanted to make one thing very clear to the city’s residents.

“We’re not closing the dumps,” Killpack said.

Killpack later said he receives questions about the landfill and solid waste departments closing from multiple people.

Nelson said a study regarding the feasibility of the dump revealed the city could save money by moving garbage to the landfill near Rock Springs.

“It was cheaper to take trash to Rock Springs than blasting and increasing the fill,” he said.

The state has also made moves to force municipalities away from city landfills and toward regional landfills.

Green River, according to Nelson and Councilman Tom McCullough, is one of the larger communities making the transfer. Nelson said the city plans to recycle whatever it can to help reduce costs associated with transferring garbage out of Green River.