PCSR INFORMATION FROM ERL 06-23-2009

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GoErie.com: Print Article Page z of The expansion of the existing footprint would extend the landfill's life by 10 to 30 years, depending on how much household, industrial and commercial waste the landfill takes in, Camillo said. The expansion would last only 10 years if the landfill cook in the 4,600-ton daily maximum that DEP allows. But at least 30 more years is expected because the landfill takes in about 1,400 to 1,500 tons daily,. in part due to recycling, Camillo said. The expansion will cost $40 million in today's dollars -- $38 million for the landfill itself and $2 million for the company's creat(on about three years ago of a 65-acre wetlands habitat farther south where turkeys, deer, ducks, geese and a fox have- been seen, Camillo said. Because the landfill will expand in individual cells, or compartments, the construction dollars. will be spent over the course of an estimated 30 years, Camillo said. Cash for trash Summit Township, a community with a population of 6,162, gets $1 for each ton of trash that is .disposed at the landfill -- a benefit of serving as the host municipality. "Let's not kid each other. Everybody would not want to be living beside a landfill," said Summit Supervisor Marlin Coon. But as recycling efforts go up, income goes down far Summit. The township got $352,184 from the landfill in 2007, compared with $773,000 in 1996, said Christine Yeast, .Summit assistant treasurer. The 1996 figure was the earliest one she had available. Coon, who took office in January 1996, said the landfill fees made up 40 percent of the township's revenue when he started the job. Now, it's about 25 percent, though those dollars have been replaced by property and wage taxes brought on by the upper Peach Street building boom, he Bald. The township used the cash to start operating and capital reserve funds, with about $2 million now (n each account, Coon said. The capital reserve is used for road repairs, vehicle purchases and other expenses, while the operating reserve is for the day when the landfill no longer is active, he-said. Coon said that white the public can comment on the proposed expansion, he's. confident that the landfill is goinc to be in Summit "for a good many more years to come." ~ ..1.. .... 1. .. Inn of thn Iwrt Vlfill~4r' t[fey Don Blakesley, Erie County recycling coordinator, said t,-~e eorr~mur~~ty iicc~s ~~i ~%.~~~~~.~.i ~+ .~ - "The cost of waste disposal would skyrocket if they would close ... given the price of diesel," Blakesley Bald. Though .some haulers take trash to other landfills, Erie County has an agreement with the landfill to reserve space for 250,000 tons of garbage annually for a decade, a renewed agreement that took effect in 2005, he said. The county's backup plan is w(th a landfill in Poland, Ohio, near Youngstown. Active landfitls are on the decline in the United States, dropping from 7,924 in 1988 to the latest figure available, 1,754 In 2006, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But. while the numbers have. decreased, the average landfill size has increased, the agency said. Lake View Landfill's proposed expansion, which at its highest point would be 90 feet lower than the existing mound, would fit that trend. "I don't think there's support for another Lake View-sized landfill in the county. 'Not in my backyard' is a pretty common theme," Blakesley said. Punch in, punch out Coon, 69, said it's "kind of Ironic" that what he called the largest development in the community in h(s lifetime occurred right in the shadow of the landfill -- the track and casino. Jennifer See, the casino's spakeswoman, said the casino has no complaints about its corporate neighbor just southeast of its property. "You can't even tell it's a dump from where we are. We don't get any of the odors or anything. They've been great neighbors," Seesald.