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2005 General Session
Traditionally, landfills in Wyoming have consisted of unlined pits into which waste material was dumped. People generally thought Wyoming was too arid for material to seep out of landfills and contaminate groundwater. But we are learning that this was a false assumption. Right now, 21 of Wyoming’s 130 municipal landfills are known to be leaking pollutants that are harmful to human health, and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) estimates that about 58 of Wyoming’s landfills will eventually leak and contaminate groundwater.
In early 2004, as directed by Governor Dave Freudenthal, the DEQ to convene a Citizen’s Advisory Group to develop solutions to the problem. This group met for nine months, and delivered a report to the DEQ and Governor Freudenthal in September 2004. They recommended legislation that would provide incentives to communities to close smaller, unlined landfills and to work with neighboring communities to develop safer and more economical lined regional landfills. They also recommended legislation to allow the state to set recycling goals, and to work with local governments to help them determine the best ways to meet the goals.
HB 71 contained the legislative recommendations of the Citizen’s Advisory Group, and was sponsored by the Joint Mineral, Business and Economic Development Committee. The bill would have provided direct grants and DEQ technical assistance to local governments, to help them determine the best and most cost-effective waste management system for their particular situation.
Supporters of HB 71 noted that materials leaching out of Wyoming dumps are extremely toxic to humans and animals. They pointed out that 111 municipal landfills in the state have at least one groundwater well within a mile of the dump, that 48 landfills have more than d11 wells within a mile, and that six landfills have more than 50 wells within a mile. They noted that most other states have closed small, unlined landfills and replaced them with collection services or transfer stations to haul garbage to larger, safer, lined regional landfills. Proponents, including the DEQ, suggested that it is time for Wyoming to start addressing this serious public health issue.
Opponents argued that the problem isn’t urgent yet, and that we should take more time to study the situation.
HB 71 was referred to the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, which took no action on the bill before the deadline for action passed, so the bill died without any recorded vote.