Another permit fight is brewing in the borderlands.
"We just don't want them as a neighbor," said Robert Ardovino, a Sunland Park resident, business owner, and father, speaking of the Camino Real Landfill. Hearings on the landfill's application for a 10-year renewal of its permit begin Wednesday. Ardovino and many opponents of the permit also have been active in the battle against the Asarco permit renewal.
In a story on Frontera Norte Sur, Sunland Park Mayor Ruben Segura "said that it isn’t his business as mayor to push for one particular solution, but he contended that the landfill was a 'divisive' and archaic entity in a community that is attempting to acquire a new identity."
He was quoted as saying: "When we talk about social justice and when we talk about the poverty component, it is the aggregate. It is not just one element. You know, the worst thing when I came here as mayor, we were known as the landfill city."
Suzanne Michaels, a consultant for Camino Real, has said that the landfill has taken steps to protect the community from any impact, and has pointed its "gasification" project, the innovation of capturing methane from decomposing trash.
From the New Mexico Environment Department:
"The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at 9 a.m. at San Martin De Porres Church, 1885 McNutt Road. The hearing will continue on the following morning and additional days if necessary.
"Residents and others will be able to provide oral or written testimony regarding the landfill at times throughout the hearing as determined by the Hearing Officer, Judge Rudy S. Apodaca. Residents may submit written statements prior to the hearing instead of presenting oral statements during the hearing. NMED will provide translation services for Spanish speakers and an interpretation of the hearing in Spanish and English.
"NMED Secretary Ron Curry will make a decision on whether to grant or deny the permit. The Secretary must consider all public comments in his decision to issue or deny the permit. Secretary Curry has until April 13 to make a decision regarding the permit but could decide sooner than that.
"The owner of the facility, Waste Connections, Inc., of New Mexico, applied for a 10-year permit renewal in the active permit renewal area of Unit 2 and into new lined cells in Unit 3.
"Camino Real Landfill includes four waste disposal units -- Units 1 through 4 — on a 480-acre site at 1000 Camino Real Blvd in in Doña Ana County and directly north of the Mexico International Border.
"The landfill now accepts municipal solid waste from New Mexico, Texas, and nonhazardous waste from Mexico. The owner wants to continue to operate the landfill in Unit 2 and to modify the permit to allow for the construction and transition to use of lined cells in the proposed Unit 3. The owner seeks to continue accepting nonhazardous wastes including residential municipal solid waste; Commercial solid waste; construction and demolition debris; petroleum contaminated soils (special waste); municipal waste water treatment plant sludge (special waste); and industrial solid waste (special waste). The renewal application provides additional information on engineering design and location details for the proposed Unit 3. The owner also proposed to include a landfill gas collection and control system as required by its existing Air Quality Bureau permit.
"Waste Connections, Inc., submitted its permit renewal application to the Solid Waste Bureau of the Department on March 3, 2006."
From the Frontera Norte Sur story:
"Mayor Segura ran down some of the obstacles confronting his town of about 17,000 people. While Deming, a southern New Mexico town with a comparable population to Sunland Park's, boasts an annual budget of $10.4 million and 165 municipal employees, Mayor Segura said Sunland Park must make do with a yearly budget of $4.4 million and 96 employees. Lack of gross receipts taxes stunts services, he said.
"Speaking after Mayor Segura, several residents denounced the odors and spilled garbage that allegedly originate from both the landfill and the fleets of trucks that serve it. Suzanne Michaels, a former El Paso television news personality, who serves as the landfill's spokeswoman, demanded equal say for the company. Contending that Camino Real utilizes state-of-the-art environmental protection technology, Michaels took issue with residents' characterization of the landfill as a "dump."
"An exchange ensued between Michaels and resident Agustin Barraza, who
charged that he was never informed that a landfill would be built near his home when he purchased his property. Barraza maintained that upwards of 500 dump trucks pass through Sunland Park every day, hauling and spilling garbage from both sides of the border. "Those are germs that are coming out," he contended. Michaels disputed Barraza's numbers, estimating that the number of dump trucks was between 300-400, but promised to look into the Sunland Park resident's concerns.
"In 2004, the NMED confirmed that medical waste and asbestos had been illegally dumped at the landfill, which is uphill from a residential area. In a separate interview, department spokeswoman Marissa Stone said that the NMED negotiated an $11,500 settlement with the Waste Connections company for the 2004 incident. Stone added that two follow-up NMED inspections turned up no violations.
"In response to questions from Frontera NorteSur, Michaels denied that dangerous materials from maquiladora plants in Ciudad Juarez or elsewhere were permitted in the landfill. "We do not accept hazardous waste, medical waste or liquid waste," Michaels said. "The maquila trucks when they come in have a manifest that tells everything that is on the truck." Michaels said that a typical load of maquila trash that arrives at the landfill might include trimmings from car upholsteries or waste from card producers."
