PROMONTORY POINT LANDFILL
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you tell me a little more about the Promontory Point Landfill?
The landfill is located on the west side of the southern peninsula tip of Promontory Point. It currently holds a Class I solid waste permit initially issued by DEQ in March 2004. The landfill is the only privately owned landfill in the state. Although Promontory Point LLC hasn’t secured a contract with a local governmental entity or received any waste to date, the company recently broke ground on the 2,000 acre site and plans to begin operations in Fall 2018. The site includes 1,000 acres for disposal bounded by a 1,000 acre buffer area.
What’s the difference between a Class I and a Class V permit?
Class I Permit
Class I landfills are noncommercial facilities that can accept municipal solid waste, commercial waste, industrial waste, construction/demolition waste, special waste such as incinerator ash, and conditionally exempt small-quantity generator hazardous waste. A Class I permit requires that, among other things, a facility meets the following conditions before it can accept waste:
- • The facility must obtain sole contracts with local governments within Utah for waste generated within the boundaries of the local government. Each contract shall be approved by the Director of the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control (DWMRC) prior to acceptance of the waste at the site.
- • The facility must demonstrate financial assurance, meaning they have the funding to cover closure and post-closure costs.
- • The landfill installs monitoring wells in accordance with a ground water monitoring plan to protect human health and the environment.
Class V Permit
Class V landfills can accept the same wastes approved under Class I permits, but there are some key differences:
- • The landfill is a commercial facility.
- • The landfill does not need to secure sole contracts with local governments.
- • The waste can originate from out of state.
- • The Director doesn’t need to approve contracts.
Because Class V landfills can accept regional waste, there is a greater likelihood that higher volumes of special wastes such as asbestos, ash, coal combustion residual (CCR or coal ash), bulk wastes, PCB-containing wastes, petroleum-contaminated soils, and waste asphalt could be disposed in the landfill, as these wastes are typically produced in smaller quantities or not produced at all in many local jurisdictions.
What is the permit history for the site?
Class I Permit
- • March 2004: DEQ granted the initial Class I permit to the landfill.
- • September 2011: Class I permit renewed with an expiration date of 2021.
- • July 2015: Landfill owners asked to modify its existing Class I permit. This major modification addressed landfill design construction and financial assurance for closure/post-closure costs. DWMRC approved these major permit modifications in March 2017.
- • Oct 2017: Landfill owners requested a major modification to the permit to change the location of downgradient ground water monitoring well locations to within 500 feet of the landfill boundary. Public comment for this permit modification runs from January 12, 2018 through February 14, 2018.
Class V Permit
- • March 2017: Promontory Point Resources applies for a Class V permit.
- • August 2017: DWMRC and its independent contractor SC&A found deficiencies in the required Needs Assessment, including potential adverse environmental impacts from the project. In addition, DEQ pointed out that the state currently has four Class V landfills with more than 1,600 years’ worth of capacity to meet industrial waste needs of the state. DWMRC requested additional information from the landfill owners.
- • December 2017: Landfill owners submitted a Needs Assessment Addendum to address deficiencies in the application. The addendum by the landfill owners provided an overview of the economic benefits of the landfill to Box Elder County and the waste market that could use the landfill. The addendum also presents the need for additional landfill capacity in Utah and the public and industry benefits.
- • 2018: DWMRC is evaluating the permit application and reviewing the addendum.
What is a Needs Assessment?
State statute requires the submission of a Needs Assessment for Class V landfills. The Director of DWMRC may not approve a solid waste operation plan unless it includes the following evidence to support the application:
- • The proposed commercial facility has a proven market of nonhazardous solid or hazardous waste, including:
- • Information on the source, quantity, and price charged for treating, storing, and disposing of potential nonhazardous solid or hazardous waste in the state and regionally
- • A market analysis of the need for a commercial facility given existing and potential generation of nonhazardous solid or hazardous waste in the state and regionally
- • A review of other existing and proposed commercial nonhazardous solid or hazardous waste facilities regionally and nationally that would compete for the treatment, storage, or disposal of the nonhazardous solid or hazardous waste.
- • A description of the public benefits of the proposed facility, including:
- • The need in the state for the additional capacity for the management of nonhazardous solid or hazardous waste
- • The energy and resources recoverable by the proposed facility
- • The reduction of nonhazardous solid or hazardous waste management methods, which are less suitable for the environment, that would be made possible by the proposed facility
- • Whether any other available site or method for the management of hazardous waste would be less detrimental to the public health or safety or to the quality of the environment.
What are the next steps?
The Class I permit modification to relocate the downgradient monitoring wells is out for public comment. DWMRC will consider public comments in its decision-making on the permit modification.
DWMRC is currently reviewing the Needs Assessment Addendum for the Class V permit application.
Promontory Point LLC can begin accepting waste under its Class I permit once it completes construction on the landfill and secures a contract with a local government entity for disposal of locally-generated waste.