EPA says it has no authority over landfill problem

Friday, Feb. 27, 1998 | 10:18 a.m.

Because the state of Nevada is in charge of municipal dump programs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cannot order improvements in a clay cap and cover at a closed Southern Nevada landfill, federal officials said Thursday.

The EPA, however, will stay informed of the progress at the closed, unlined Sunrise landfill, said Susanna Trujillo, solid waste project manager overseeing Nevada operations at the EPA's Region 9 office in San Francisco.

There are no federal regulations covering methane gas that a Bureau of Land Management consultant discovered last year seeping from cracks across the 620 acres of buried trash at the landfill that was closed in 1993, Trujillo said.

Instead, the EPA can only stay informed. "We're doing a wait-and-see approach," she said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., had asked the EPA to review the landfill's closure to see if it poses a threat to air or water quality after the BLM's report became public. The dumpsite is two miles from the Las Vegas Wash, leading to Southern Nevada's major water supply.

The EPA's role for enforcement is in case of a threat to public drinking water or serious air pollution violations beyond the scope of local authorities, Trujillo said.

The BLM, the Clark County Health District, the county's Public Works Department and the Nevada Environmental Protection Agency are reviewing the landfill's closure.

A meeting of the state and local agencies Wednesday did not produce any major progress.

At a minimum, improvements to the clay cap and the landfill cover will be required. No one knows who will be responsible for correcting the problems.

The agencies are still sorting responsibilities, said Michael Moran, solid waste manager for the BLM's Las Vegas District Office. "There's a good bet there will be groundwater monitoring," he said.