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Show PAGE 4 THE ZEPHYROCTOBER 1994 a million dollars. She also believes that placing monitoring wells over the existing dump could increase our liability for what's already been put into the ground. to Sturm, is $454,153. Many believe the new landfill is too expensive. The cost, according the Guard project. Hie Guard participation in But she is currently attempting to recruit National cost by as much reduce final and the work the of share a lion's assume unit in Blanding could make the new landfill it would that feat, as $418,189. If the District could actually accomplish almost free. Whether that actually happens or not remains to be seen. But if it can be done that cheaply, why are we borrowing a million bucks? And there is another complaint; even if the new landfill could be constructed economically, the cost of operating the landfill is exorbitant, about $400,000 a year. The District wants to impose a $1-- 3 surcharge on UP & L bills to all Grand County customers. But Sturm concedes failure to could pay the surcharge could not lead to a shutoff of consumers' electricity. be enforced by the Sheriffs Office. In addition, the District would like to ultimately impose mandatory collection on all Grand County residents, similar to the City's. Using an approach called 'Bags or Tags each household would receive a certain number of collection bags a month, for a cost of around $5. If a household exceeds that number in a month, it would have to buy more bags; those generating less garbage would benefit This does not include additional cost by file collection contractor. The current contract with Bob's Sanitation, for instance, would have to be renegotiated. But then who wants to jeopardize a am tract with a company that probably provides better and more personal service to this community than anyone could ever hope for? Critics say the plan is unworkable. County residents, already fed up with restrictions and Non-complia- nce Solid Waste Mess when the only stories about the Grand County We've come a long way since the mid-8Q- s, Landfill promoted its scenic location. Lately we've been warned that the old dump is just about filled to capacity and could be leaking toxic chemicals into the water table. Hie county has been given until September 1995 to come up with a plan to meet landfill EPA standards. When the County Council abolished the old Roads Special Service District it established a Solid Waste Management District to deal with the problem. Mineral Lease monies that were originally targeted for the Book Cliffs Highway now went to set up the new district The Council advised the new district that it would provide start-u- p funding; ultimately, the district would have to run on its own. A board appointed by the Council hired an administrator, Sandi Sturm, to ga filer information and data to help determine what landfill options the county has. The District believes that a new landfill, constructed in the Klondike Flats 30 miles north of Moab is the county's best option. A transfer station, built and operated by the district at a Moab location, will separate and haul garbage to the new site. An alternative proposal calls for Grand County garbage to be hauled 100 miles north to the East Carbon Landfill, owned by the firm of Creamer & Noble. Where have we heard that name before? In addition, the District hopes to develop a mandatory garbage collection plan similar to the city's. And it will pay for construction of the new landfill with a $1,000,000 loan from the Community Impact Board at 3 interest. The cost of operating the new landfill is, by most estimates, around $400,000 a year. Tipping fees already being collected by the District are generating about $25,000 a month in revenues. Is this the best way to go? Is it the only way to go? Critics of the plan say we can stay right where we are for another 25 years. Sandi Sturm, the Service District administrator, say we have no choice but to leave, that it would cost more to meet federal guidelines at the old site. Let's go back to the beginning. The federal government regularly imposes strict and costly health and safety regulations upon small communities across the country, including us. Yet it does so without ever providing a due to those small and often poor communities how they are supposed to find the funding to implement the rules and regs. Just last week, the County Council voted support for "no money, no mandate" legislation in Congress that addresses that very sword; many of these restrictions make perfect sense. problem. The proposed law is a To throw all of them out would be a serious mistake. In any case, don't hold your breath waiting for Congressional relief. Most of us no better than that by now. At the county level, the newly elected Council knew that the only money it could use to deal with the problem was the mineral lease monies distributed to the counties by the state. Mineral lease money is a strange duck. We've told this story before but it deserves repeating. That money, for some reason, cannot go directly to the county governments, without jeopardizing other PILT payments made to the counties by the federal government. But they can be directed to special service districts that operate autonomously from the governing body. That means that once the district is established and a board has been selected, the County Council cannot interfere in the operation or direction of the district in any way, unless it chooses to disband the district entirely. That's what the Council did to the old roads district. The proposals made by the Solid Waste Management District have raised the hackles of many citizens who feel there must be an easier and less expensive way of disposing of our garbage. Here are some of the arguments... two-edg- ed We could continue to use the current dump by increasing recycling efforts to reduce tonnage and by installing monitoring wells. The District says we've exceeded the tonnage for a landfill of that type and must build a new one that meets state regulations. Critics say the estimated 37.5 tonsday of garbage is way too high. A better estimate might be half that amount, and that the higher number was due to last year's record tourism, movie making, and home and commercial construction. It has even been suggested that since the landfill property actually consists of two parcels, owned separately by the City and the County, the two government entities could run the landfill as two separate landfills, thereby cutting the tonnage in half and circumventing the tonnage requirement. Sandi Sturm responds that reducing the estimated tonnage is irrelevant The current dump sits on fractured sandstone and on a fault line. She believes that a plastic lined pit would be required to meet standards associated with such conditions, and that the cost would approach Someone save me. Someone bring me a milk shake. regulations, would simply refuse to comply. Garbage would end up along the highway and in dry washes, not in collection bags. The District says if we don't comply with these regs and meet next September's deadline, we amid face fines of $25,000 a day. Critics say, let them impose their fines. You can't get blood out of a rock. What can they do...arrest the citizens of Grand County? And finally some citizens complain that, once again, a special service district is making million dollar decisions that will affect the citizens of the county for decades, and not one of them is elected by the citizens it serves. In addition, the District runs up administrative costs that exceed $50,000 a year. The fact is, as long as the district is funded by those annoying mineral lease revenues, the district is required to be administratively independent. However, once that money is used elsewhere, there doesn't seem to be any reason why the district could not be managed as a department of the county, under the supervision of the county administrator. This is not a story that can be easily resolved. The situation smells as bad as the garbage we're trying to rid ourselves of. But trying to find someone to blame is even harder. It's difficult to fault the board who was appointed by the Council. Each one of them has devoted long hours on this problem and I am confident they sincerely believe that a new landfill is our best option. The Council, trying to avoid conflict with the mineral lease money, could only appoint a Board and hope for the best. No one in a position of responsibility seems ready to defy federal and state laws. While many Grand County residents are complaining, no one has come forward to lead the opposition. The District held public hearings, and nobody showed up. Public outrage, right on the heels of public apathy, is something this county has seen before. Sewer rate increase: Let the People Vote. Moab a has a month rate increase in sewer service to pay for projected City proposed $5 needs the at waste sewer treatment expansion plant. As Moab continues to grow, the plant moves closer to capacity, and obviously something needs to be done. But to simply increase the rate of current users in order to pay for the needs of future businesses and residences is unfair. Why should the citizens of Moab pay for the sewer needs of a future motel, or Wendy's, or a new subdivision? And it is a perfect opportunity for Moab to decide what kind of future it wants. Instead of a rate increase, let's put it to a vote of the people. A bond election could allow the voters of Grand County to say, once and for all, just how big they want this town to become. Do we want to expand the sewage treatment plant to 8000? Or do we increase it to 15,000? Who has a better right to decide such critical issues like future growth than the citizens of this community? The City will hold a public meeting on October 11 to hear what residents have to say about the rate increase. Hantivirus Threat: Look out Moki Poachers Does the hantivirus threat pose a serious health risk in the National Parks of southern Utah. At least to its employees, the NPS says yes. In Canyonlands National Park, the agency has gone to great lengths to remove deer mouse that the carries (the droppings virus) and to agent decontaminate living quarters, especially trailers. In addition to plugging holes in the structures that allowed deer mice to get inside residences, heater ducts were thoroughly vacuumed and furnaces disassembled and cleaned. At Arches National Park, the Devils Garden trailer has been condemned and vacated, due in part to the threat of the hantivirus. But who is threatened most by the disease? There is some poetic justice to the fact that pot RUBY HELD HOSTAGE FOR "Day of the Dead" ART! submissions due October I & Art show starts the 20th. (Chock out our window display) LOOK FOR US IN THE WESTERN PLAZA, NEXT TO McSTlFFS Catch Me STILL BILL through Oet. 1 6. |
