Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

ADEQ examines county's landfill for permitting

Representatives from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) were on hand for a public hearing concerning Nevada County's class IV landfill.

The meeting was held Tuesday, April 27, with no members of the public showing up. However, the ADEQ representatives talked with Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown about the permitting process.

Gerald Delevan, ADEQ geologist supervisor, said the county made application to expand the current landfill by 5.65 acres. The expansion is needed as the current landfill is full.

Brown said class IV materials are now being sent to the landfill in Nashville, which has a class I landfill.

Delevan and Susan Booker, ADEQ engineer, made a site visit Wednesday. Preliminary tests were done with a hole dug by a track hoe and the ADEQ personnel looking at the surface and subsurface soils. They looked for a lot of clay on site, which is typical for a class IV landfill site. The more clay the better the site.

Once the tests are done and data has been gathered, a draft pre-site report will be made, listing any limitations the site has against it. Once the county has overcome these limitations and there are no problems with the location, the county can then submit a full-blown application.

Delevan said the ADEQ will examine the application, making sure it's complete and accurate. When this is done, the draft permit, once it's finalized, will be issued with a 30-day period for public comment. If there's enough comments, there will be a hearing, he said, otherwise the permits will be issued.

"It could take six to eight months," he said, "depending on the work load and the number of applications before the ADEQ. I don't see a problem with approval. The existing facility is well run and there's a thick horizon of clay."

Brown said the county utilizes the Day Service Center to help with recycling, and the county is fortunate to have Hines Wood Fiber Product. Hines, he said, takes brush and limbs that would go into the landfill and chips them up for mulch.

"This saves a lot of space in the landfill," Brown said.