Brownsville, Texas, approves multiyear contract with SCS Engineers to oversee landfill

SCS Engineers announced that the Brownsville, Texas, Commission approved a recommendation by the city’s Engineering and Public Works Department to continue an existing multiyear partnership with the Long Beach, California-based environmental consulting and contracting firm. SCS will serve the city for an additional five years under the new agreement, and the environmental contracts support the Brownsville Landfill’s gas collection and control system (GCCS) expansion and provide landfill engineering, compliance, monitoring and operations assistance for the city.

SCS Project Director and Vice President J. Roy Murray will continue to serve the city under the new contract. Murray has decades of experience in civil and environmental permitting, design and construction at municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. This includes 20 years serving the Brownsville Landfill.

“The city staff and commission continue to entrust SCS Engineers to help the landfill staff with the safe, efficient and compliant operation of the landfill,” Murray says. “We are honored by their trust. The city of Brownsville MSW landfill operations team serves the city well. The facility is the primary solid waste disposal site for surrounding communities, carefully engineered and maintained regularly even during severe weather, and now, a pandemic. The forethought of the landfill division, their leadership, and innovative practices provide the citizens with stellar services while protecting the environment.”

The initial installation of the city’s GCCS was completed in 2011 and was part of an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant the city received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. SCS Engineers assisted with the application process, and as a result of the collaboration, the city received a $1.7 million grant to install a landfill gas collection system at the site. With the GCCS operational, the city has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions. The landfill infrastructure and emission reductions were voluntary at the time, but are now required under Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) air quality rules and regulations and the Environmental Protection Agency’s New Source Performance Standards.

The city’s GCCS consists of 16 landfill gas extraction wells and currently provides coverage of 32 acres of the city landfill’s disposal footprint. The city plans to expand the GCCS in 2021 to support the landfill’s growth and help comply with stricter air permit regulations. The expansion will include 38 additional wells covering 120 acres of the landfill footprint. The new wells will integrate with the collection system as well as with liquids management, leachate control and stormwater systems, among others.