Promontory Point landfill inching closer to fruition
SALT LAKE CITY — Box Elder County is inching closer to having a new landfill — this one on a 2,000-acre strip of land at the southern tip of Promontory Point.
Wednesday afternoon, March 2, the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment committee unanimously approved HJR20, a resolution sponsored by Rep. Lee Perry, R-Perry, to assist Promontory Point Resources, LLC in setting up a Class V landfill at Promontory Point.
The company currently has a Class I permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality to accept local, nonhazardous waste at the site. But the Class V permit would open the door to receive nonhazardous waste from other counties and even outside the state, expanding the landfill’s profitability potential.
In addition to legislative approval, Promontory Point Resources will also need the go-ahead from Box Elder County officials. The director of the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control within DEQ must also approve the facility’s operation plan for the Class V permit, and finally the venture must garner the governor’s approval.
The company’s proposed operation plan involves receiving nonhazardous municipal waste, industrial waste, construction and demolition waste, and “special wastes” as defined in Utah’s Administrative Code.
“If you’ve ever been out there, you’d appreciate why this is a good spot for a landfill at this point,” Perry told the panel.
Box Elder County approval could come this week, Perry said. Tipping fees would flow from the landfill to the county, providing an economic benefit, he added. And east-west rail transport provides access to the remote site.
Refuse could also be hauled in by truck, Perry said, but that would require traveling along a stretch of dirt road.
Rep. Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, commended Perry for bringing the resolution forward.
“This is something that our community and that area of northern Utah has needed for several years. You could not pick a better place to put a landfill. Its kind of in the middle of nowhere,” Schultz said.
HJR20 now moves on to consideration by the House and then the Senate.
Contact reporter Cathy McKitrick at 801-625-4214 or cmckitrick@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @catmck.
