Local counties discuss forming a waste district
Mar. 20—GRANGEVILLE — Local county commissioners are discussing forming a solid waste district with a central repository to lower the escalating expense and liability of hauling garbage to distant landfills.
Idaho County Commissioner Denis Duman said during a regular commission meeting Tuesday that commissioners from Nez Perce, Lewis, Clearwater and Valley counties have been meeting on this topic for about a year. It's the latest attempt to try to solve the counties' mounting costs of hauling solid waste to municipal landfills in Missoula, Mont., or Payette, Idaho.
"The idea is to form a district that will take us into the next 100 years," Duman said.
Latah County has chosen not to join the group, he added.
Nez Perce County Commission Chairman Doug Zenner said his county has not yet taken a position on the issue.
"We're still in fact-finding," Zenner said. Nez Perce County's overall annual waste hauling cost is $1.474 million, but that does not include the city of Lewiston, which is not in the county's system. Likewise, the city of Grangeville also has a separate contract for waste hauling and is not currently involved in the proposal for a solid waste district.
Finding an alternative to hauling garbage to distant landfills is a project commissioners have been working on for at least a decade. Groups of civic leaders have searched for a suitable alternative to trucking counties' waste hundreds of miles, and in the case of Missoula, along U.S. Highway 12 that borders the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River and the Lochsa River, both of which are designated under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Commissioners have expressed worry that an accident involving garbage trucks along that stretch could have far-reaching legal consequences.
Several alternatives have been proposed over the years but none were finally acceptable, either because the site wasn't suitable for solid waste or landowners and neighbors opposed the construction of a landfill near their property.
Duman said the current group of commissioners has identified a number of possible sites for a future landfill but nothing has been confirmed. A likely spot would be in Idaho County, he said, but he didn't specify a location.
Duman said Clearwater Financial, a municipal advisory firm, has already helped a group of counties in eastern Idaho form a solid waste district and would be willing to assist in this case. The first step would be to organize the counties into a separate entity that would be governed by a representative from each county.
Duman said his two primary questions are: Where would the landfill be, and what would be the cost? The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality have offered low-interest rates and grants to develop a central landfill.
"We don't have those answers yet. We have to form a district first," he said.
In the next month or so, he added, he expects the commissioners to come up with a resolution for the counties to approve. If a solid waste district is formed, all entities within the counties would have to bring their waste tonnage to the landfill to offset the cost of construction, transportation, tipping fees and other expenses. Duman expressed confidence that such a project would save the counties money in the long run. Idaho County's annual solid waste expense is about $1.2 million.
"We're ready to move forward," Duman said. "I'd like to see it (resolved) by the first of June."
Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.
