Questions, Answers and Facts about Box Elder County’s involvement with the

Northern Utah Regional Landfill Authority

 

 





To view an informational brochure click here.


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What is the Northern Utah Regional Landfill Authority?

The Northern Utah Regional Landfill Authority (NURLA) is a governmental entity formed by; Box Elder County, Logan City, Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District (Davis and Morgan Counties), and Weber County.  NURLA is NOT FOR PROFIT and is operated similar to many water or sewer districts.

 

 

What is NURLA’s purpose?

NURLA’s purpose is to develop a regional landfill in order to consolidate services and reduce costs associated with solid waste disposal.  This will occur largely due to a significantly increased and secured stream of waste from each of the NURLA entities.

 

 

People are saying that Box Elder County is giving up control of landfilling and waste management in the County.  Why would the Box Elder County Commission consider giving up control of landfilling?

Box Elder Commissioners would retain “veto” authority in regard to future landfill sites and would jointly participate in operational decisions.  The County would be greatly benefited through the long term waste stream revenues, substantial waste disposal cost savings and overall improved waste management services.  When NURLA begins to prepare their operational procedures, the commissioners are in total support of developing participation contracts.

 

The current Box Elder County Landfill is losing money.  Without any additional garbage coming into the current landfill, the County may have to close its landfill all together.  Whether regional or county in scope, Box Elder residents still have elected representatives who have some influence on the cost do dump garbage at the landfill.  If private waste management companies were to undercut this public utility and acquire the waste streams from all of Northern Utah, Box Elder residents will have no way of influencing any future waste management decisions.  These companies would comprise a de facto monopoly and be able to charge astronomical fees knowing that no other option is available.

 

 

Are the Box Elder County Commissioners at a conflict of interest by serving on the NURLA Board?

No.  The Box Elder County Commissioners receive no compensation for serving on the NURLA Board.  The Commissioners serve on NURLA’s Board as a commission assignment just as they serve on the Bear River Association of Governments board, mosquito abatement district, and water conservancy district.

 

 

Why has Box Elder County’s Little Mountain Landfill been selected as the location of the regional landfill and not the Promontory site?

Following an in-depth study conducted by Zions Bank, the Little Mountain Landfill site is geographically the best located, has the best access, the best overall travel times (lowest hauling costs) from each of the NURLA member sites and also has the lowest developmental costs.  Several alternative regional landfill sites in Box Elder County have been analyzed, including the Promontory and Whites Valley sites. 

 

 

Some have claimed that Promontory would be an ideal location for this type of regional landfill, has that option been considered?

Promontory consistently ranked near the bottom of the proposed sites due to the lack of access (the owners have no legal access to the site), costs associated with the purchase price (10 million dollars) and additional costs of required infrastructure upgrades including widening about 10 miles of the Union Pacific owned causeway over the Great Salt Lake.  Any modifications to the existing road would also be subject to scrutiny from the environmental community which could take years to resolve.

 

 

Box Elder County already has an operating landfill, why would we want to participate in a regional landfill?

A regional landfill would reduce the cost of waste disposal to the residents and businesses of Box Elder County by securing additional waste from counties throughout northern Utah.  Rather than each county providing their own waste disposal services, consolidation of these services would create lower garbage utility services due to a regional economy of scale.  Box Elder County will also generate additional revenues to the county from host fees (a $1.50 per ton fee paid by those entities bringing waste into the county) assessed to NURLA participants.  This will amount to approximately $900,000 when utilized by all NURLA  members.

 

 

Will establishing a regional landfill at Little Mountain eliminate the threat of a landfill in Whites Valley (West Hills)?

 Yes.  Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District (Davis and Morgan Counties) has agreed to surplus their property at Whites Valley IF a regional landfill is established at Little Mountain.  This would remove Whites Valley from consideration as a future site of any type of regional landfill.

 

 

In addition to lower costs to residents and additional revenues to the County, are there other benefits to making the existing Little Mountain landfill a regional landfill?

Yes.  Box Elder County can eliminate existing debt (approximately 1.4 million dollars) associated with the original purchase of the landfill.  NURLA will lower potential environmental and liability risk by moving all existing waste and future waste at the Little Mountain site from the ground onto to a liner.  The landfill lifespan will be expanded from 47 years to 80 years for both Box Elder Residents and all other participating NURLA members.   Box Elder will have the increased revenue available to enhance the potential for additional services such as a Household Hazardous Waste disposal program, increased recycling, and public education programs.

 

 

We have heard all of the positive points from having a regional landfill at Little Mountain, what are the negatives issues?

The largest negative impact to Box Elder County residents is traffic.  All waste delivered to the site from outside the County will be delivered in fully covered transfer trailers with a net capacity of approximately 38 tons per truck.  Initially, additional truck traffic into the County from Weber County would require 18 trucks per day.  All NURLA members using the facility will require approximately 51 trucks per day, 10 coming from the north and 41 coming from the south.  NURLA’s creation document does require NURLA to pay for any impact to County roads.  In comparison, ATK employee traffic comprises approximately 2000 round trips on Highway 83 per day and Walmart Distribution averages 350 trips per day.

 

 

We have heard that the Box Elder County Landfill has an account with nearly a $2 million balance.  How can that be if the Box Elder County Landfill has a financial problem?

The Box Elder County Landfill does have an account with a balance of nearly $2 million.  The majority of that balance came from the one-time revenues generated by accepting Weber County waste at the landfill. The County is bound by contract to provide for landfill care and post-closure costs in an escrow account established for that future event; they are also obligated by bond covenants to set aside funds for future bond payments.  In addition to these contractual obligations required equipment replacement and other capital improvements at the landfill have been put on hold because of the pending sale.  Waste (from Willard, Perry, and most recently Walmart in Brigham City) is currently being hauled out of the County (to the Weber County transfer station) which greatly reduces revenues at the landfill. This diminished waste stream could result in Box Elder County either cutting landfill services or significantly increasing tipping rates to balance the budget shortfall. 

 

 

People are saying that the process of selecting a landfill site in Box Elder County has been too fast and that the County is rushing the process.

The possibility of having a regional landfill in Box Elder County has been around since the efforts to site a landfill in Whites Valley in 1993.  Recent efforts to attract additional waste to Box Elder County started in earnest in 2004 with previous Commissioners.  Additional efforts to attract wastestreams (revenues) to Box Elder County were made in 2005 after waste from Weber County resulted in such a large financial gain for the County.

 

 

Two of the County Commissioners and the Executive Director of Solid Waste are stating that time is of the essence in selling the landfill and securing the NURLA partners (waste), why is that?

The relationships that have been developed with the other NURLA partners has not been historically possible due to differing needs, differing views of solid waste services, and poor relationships between the elected officials..  The elected officials from Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Morgan and Weber Counties have realized the need for cooperation to ensure a long-term cost effective solid waste management system and have developed trusting personal relationships.

 

 In addition, the best way to ensure that NURLA members bring their waste to the landfill (so we can all realize the economies of scale) is to open the regional landfill as soon as possible in order to begin providing the lower cost service.  The longer NURLA waits to open the improved landfill, the more time competing commercial interests have to slow or stop the process through political and legislative channels.