June 28, 2002 – Landfill Technologies Corp. of Puerto Rico is the successful bidder to implement the V.I. government plan to wrap, bale and store St. Croix's garbage on an interim basis until a new waste-disposal system to replace the Anguilla landfill is in operation.
Olga Meyers, deputy commissioner of Property and Procurement, said the company was one of six that bid for the five-year contract. "We have given them conditional notice to proceed," she said. This means the company can apply to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency for permits to operate at the existing Anguilla landfill site.
Meyers said an area known as Coble, located near Mon Bijou, is an alternate site for Landfill Technologies to set up its operations, but the Anguilla site is preferred because it has no residential neighbors. "We won't have to have hearings," she said.
The not-in-my-backyard complaint has come up numerous times as the Senate and other government officials grappled to come up with a solution.
If the Anguilla site is chosen, Landfill Technologies also needs permission from the Port Authority, which owns the land. If the Coble site is chosen, the company needs only an EPA permit.
Meyers said V.I. government and Landfill Technologies representatives are going to Florida next week to discuss permits with EPA and FAA officials. She said she did not anticipate any problems getting permits. "In two, two and a half weeks, we should know something," she said.
She said that the financial details of the contract, which was finalized on June 22, will be worked out once the site is chosen. She declined to disclose estimates.
The government still must come up with a long-term solution to St. Croix's solid waste situation. The FAA, which says birds and smoke from the landfill pose a hazard to planes taking off and landing at nearby Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, ordered the Public Works Department last year to close the landfill by Dec. 31.
While popular perception had it that the FAA would close the airport if Public Works didn't close the landfill on schedule, an FAA spokeswoman said in May that it hadn't decided one way or other on closure. Closing the landfill was a condition imposed when the FAA awarded the territory nearly $9.4 million in grants to expand the runway.
The landfill receives 300 tons of garbage daily.
Meyers said Landfill Technologies was chosen because it best met the criteria set by Public Works. A Source story in March said the criteria specified a local contractor who could meet EPA requirements, work speedily to complete the project and submit a bid between $8 million and $14 million for construction of the temporary waste-storage facility and its maintenance over the next five years.
Meyers said Landfill Technologies operates eight landfill operations in Puerto Rico and at least one in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She said conditions at the Atlantic City operation, which is located near an airport, are similar to those at Anguilla. The company is expected to set up shop by the Dec. 31 deadline, she said.
A call to Landfill Technologies' St. Croix attorney, Julio Brady, seeking more information about the company was not returned. The company telephone number in Puerto Rico obtained through directory assistance was continuously busy on Friday.
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