North Dakota landfill could expand

The city of Dickinson, North Dakota, has filed for a permit with the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to expand a cell at a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill it owns.

According to a public notice regarding the permit request published online by the DEQ in mid-March, several modifications have been requested by the city of Dickinson regarding its Dickinson Landfill complex.

The public notice says the city of Dickinson is seeking “to change the currently permitted waste boundaries and eliminate two solid waste management units.”

In terms of boundary changes, the city is seeking an “approximately 60-foot horizonal expansion of waste boundaries to the east.” It also is proposing a future “Cell 4B expansion to the south of the current disposal area” and has requested changes to its inert landfill, which usually refers to a landfill that accepts construction and demolition materials.

According to DEQ, Dickinson currently owns and operates an MSW landfill located on approximately 84 acres, part of a facility that was first permitted in 1990. It now proposes to “remove the inert waste cell from the list of permitted solid waste management units” and remove a “surface impoundment” area from the list of permitted solid waste management units.

Cornell Law School in New York defines a surface impoundment area as “a unit that is a natural topographical depression, man-made excavation, or diked area formed primarily of earthen materials (although it may be lined with man-made materials), which is designed to hold an accumulation of liquids.

In addition to landfills, the DEQ says the city of Dickinson operates a yard waste compost unit, a wood scrap processing operation and a “land treatment area” at the site. (The ScienceDirect website defines land treatment as “the controlled application of wastewater onto the land surface to achieve a planned degree of treatment through natural physical, chemical, and biological processes within the plant-soil-water matrix.”)

The DEQ says it “believes that a permit which meets the requirements of the North Dakota Solid Waste Management Rules and is protective of human health and the environment can be issued to [the] city of Dickinson and has prepared a draft permit for public review and comment.”

Public comments can be made until April 13. Additional information on the permit and the comments process can be found on this web page.