County awaits EPA approval

Lincoln County Troy Commissioner Ron Downey will be watching the mail next week, waiting for a letter from the EPA.

That letter, EPA Team Leader Rebecca Thomas said Wednesday, will state the piles of wood debris at the Troy Landfill show no detectable signs of asbestos, as a result of activity-based testing, and the county may then dispose of the debris that has been accumulating for three years.

Thomas said an option still would be to chip it and then haul up to the old mine site.

Downey, however, just wants the pile gone.

“We usually take care of this about every six months,” Downey said. “This thing has been growing for three years.”

The “thing” Downey refers to is an 80-yard long by 50-yard wide by as high as 15 feet in some places.

“It’s massive,” said Eureka Commissioner Mike Cole, who sized up the pile Wednesday with Downey.

For three years, the landfill has had hands-off the pile as it grew, awaiting word from the EPA.

“The EPA wants us to haul it to the mine site. If they give us the option, we’ll burn it,” Downey said. “With diesel fuel $4 a gallon, it’ll cost too much to haul all this up to the mine.”

The debris pile has been a recurring topic of commissioners, one that Presiding Commissioner Tony Berget is anxious for a resolution.

“We want to be part of the dialogue,” Berget said. “Maybe we could chip it in the fall when its wetter, or hose them down before they’re hauled off.”

Downey has a simpler solution: “If they give us an option, I’ll burn it.”