ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
A district court judged ruled last week that Marion County will be held responsible for cleaning up and closing the old landfill site southwest of Marion.
The cost of closure is estimated to be in excess of $650,000.
Judge Steven Hornbaker, issuing a summary judgment for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, stated the county is statutorily responsible for cleanup of solid waste that it generated, the dump site now constitutes a 3public nuisance,2 and that the county is responsible for cleanup 3because of the numerous guarantees it made to provide for closure and post-closure assurance.2
KDHE had filed the suit against the Board of County Commissioners and Marion County Landfill, Inc. (MCLI), the company that was formed to operate the landfill after former owner Tom Grosse died in 1993.
A permit to operate a landfill with the state is not assignable and is not subject to inheritance.
In 1974, Grosse entered into a 20-year agreement with Marion County to provide a sanitary landfill on a quarter-section he owned about six miles southwest of Marion. Two years later, he received a permit from KDHE to operate the landfill on the entire quarter-section of land.
After Grosse1s death in 1993, MCLI operated the landfill without a viable permit. According to the court record, in 1995 KDHE notified MCLI that it was in violation and steps would need to be taken to bring the operation into compliance with the law.
The following June, KDHE entered an order allowing MCLI to continue solid waste disposal at the site with a permit until Oct. 9, 1996.
Contributing 3much of the incentive2 for the order were assurances from the Board of Commissioners that the county would guarantee the closure costs.
The landfill ceased to function Oct. 8, 1996, although it had not been 3closed2 according to the mandates of Kansas environmental law or the Evironmental Protection Agency.
MCLI had attempted to sell a portion of the landfill????about 80 percent????to a corporation called MSW, Inc., without placing the landfill into compliance with the law and without requiring MSW to follow the order to properly close the landfill and without notifying
The question brought before the court was who would be legally responsible for properly closing the landfill and further monitoring the groundwater and landfill in general for contaminates for the next 30 years.
In formulating its ruling, the court found that:
–the county commissioners were the legal representatives of the citizens of Marion County and the proper entity for KDHE to sue for relief;
–MCLI was allowed to operate because of KDHE1s understanding of guarantees provided by Marion County for the closure of the landfill. Grosse had never put up appropriate financial assurance for closure and post-closure costs.
–on at least four separate occasions from 1992 to 1996, the county commission had conveyed that the county would meet KDHE1s current closure and post-closure regulations.
–not only had the county not followed through in its guarantee, but it 3knowingly and contractually2 participated in the disposal of solid waste into the non-permitted disposal area and took intentional steps to block any attempts to permit the facility to make it legal.
The court said Marion County must prepare a closure plane within 60 days for approval by KDHE.
Judge rules county must clean up old landfill
