BLM official warns against developing landfill

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 1998 | 11:08 a.m.

A Bureau of Land Management official said the old Sunrise Mountain landfill, which spilled some of its contents after a severe September thunderstorm, needs extensive environmental studies before anything is built on the site.

Bernie Hyde Jr., the BLM's group manager for protection and response from Washington, D.C., said he had been following the saga of the closed Sunrise landfill since it came to public notice after a BLM consultant discovered dangerous levels of methane gas seeping out of cracks in its cover.

Hyde handles environmental emergencies on BLM sites across the country and came to Las Vegas Monday for several meetings unrelated to the Sunrise landfill. He toured the site after reading about the recent damages.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection are working with Republic-Silver State Disposal Services Inc., manager for the landfill, Clark County Public Works and the Health District to properly close the landfill. The BLM owns the site and federal officials have said they are concerned about public health threats from the landfill.

A groundwater monitoring plan from Silver State is due at the state's Carson City office by Oct. 15.

After a severe storm on Sept. 11, the landfill burst open and some of its contents flowed down the mountain into the Las Vegas Wash. The wash drains the Las Vegas Valley of treated sewage, surface runoff and groundwater. Six miles downstream Southern Nevada draws its drinking water from Lake Mead.

"I was disappointed in the way all the material went down the wash and was surprised at the size of the boulders," Hyde said.

While the National Weather Service estimates that such a storm happens once in 15 to 30 years, some gauges at the site measured nearly 2 inches of rain in less than an hour. The water piled up behind the landfill's flood control channel, then ripped into the dumpsite, tore the black plastic liner and washed away boulders larger than 2 feet across.

Leahi Hills Development Inc. proposed building a golf course, tennis courts and horse trails atop the 720-acre unlined landfill, about 15 miles east of downtown Las Vegas. Leahi President James Gomes estimated earlier this year it would take $50 million to plan, design and build the golf course.

But Gomes said he is ready to launch an inspector general's investigation against the local BLM office for "coercive and unfair tactics" in preventing solutions to the landfill's problems.

"I would not risk money or my family on something like this," Gomes, a Hawaiian native, said. "The BLM does not talk about solutions, they are looking to lay blame. We intend to get some people's jobs."

At former dumpsites turned over by the BLM for other uses, Hyde said he had not observed many problems.

He advised, however, against developing anything at Sunrise -- from a golf course to a parking lot -- until extensive environmental studies have been completed.

"I would not advise anybody to put a golf course on top of any landfill," Hyde said, after observing golf courses built over old landfills in Colorado and Arizona. Those courses, not built on former BLM lands, have been plagued with problems of sinking greens.

"If you try to play on them, you can see why they have to keep moving the greens every three or four years," he said.

Most landfills are more suited to industrial sites or parking lots. The Sunrise landfill needs extensive study to find out what impacts it will have on any future use, Hyde said.

Extensive soil tests and groundwater monitoring is necessary before a site is put to any use, Hyde said.

"You need a clear idea of what's in the soils," he said.