Landfill in Tulsa Shuts Down; Legal Action Awaited

By Barbara Hoberock, Tulsa World, Okla.

Oct. 30–OKLAHOMA CITY — The North Tulsa Sanitary Landfill has closed, pending legal action.

The business at 4215 E. 56th St. North was facing a contempt charge in Oklahoma County District Court for allegedly continuing to operate despite a July order to close.

The trial, which was set to begin Monday, was postponed to Feb. 11. The continuance was necessary to allow the parties time to reach a settlement, court documents indicate.

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality alleges that the landfill has not followed a 2006 consent order directing it to submit an approval plan for a new cell and to meet environmental and compliance standards.

"The Department of Environmental Quality has tried to work with the landfill for several years to gain compliance," said Steve Thompson, the agency’s executive director. "Steps to shut down the facility were taken after it became obvious that the landfill either could not or would not meet its legal obligations."

The state estimates the costs of bringing the site into compliance at more than $3.7 million.

The landfill locked its gates Friday.

James Dunn, an Oklahoma City attorney who represents the landfill, said he had been advised by his client not to comment.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said: "This landfill is an environ mental and public health hazard. Contamination is leaching into the surface water and groundwater, and litter is blowing into Bird Creek.

"Closing this landfill is an important first step in cleaning up the area."

The Department of Environmental Quality said inspections indicated that waste buried in the landfill was burning, potentially releasing hazardous and toxic smoke into the environment.

The agency said its concerns about the landfill date back a decade, and the landfill has a history of fines, enforcement actions and litigation.

State law requires municipal solid waste to be taken to a state-approved landfill.

Edmondson and Thompson said waste haulers should know that any delivery of waste to the landfill will be in violation of the court order and could subject haulers to civil penalties.

——

Barbara Hoberock (405) 528-2465 barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com

—–

To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, Tulsa World, Okla.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.