PANEL REJECTS LANDFILL SITES

PERRYVILLE -- Solid waste district officials don't know where a regional landfill will be.

But, they know where it won't be.

Southeast Missouri Solid Waste District's planner, Tim Morgan, said the organization's siting committee has eliminated several areas from its list of prospects.

Forget anything east of Interstate 55. The Karst geology there would cause groundwater contamination and other problems.

Forget hilly regions or counties with lots of state forest acreage. Most of Iron County and western Madison County are out of the question for those reasons. They also don't have enough soil to layer over trash.

And, forget areas that don't have quick access to state highways 72, 67 or 51 or Interstate 55. The smaller roads couldn't handle heavy dump truck traffic.

The siting committee met in executive session a week ago to ride along those roads and look at the seven-county district, which takes in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry, Madison, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve and Iron counties. Morgan said the trip helped familiarize its members, who are from all over the district, with the whole area.

Marble Hill City Administrator Dave Jackson, a committee member, said it was a learning experience that helped narrow the list of possibilities.

"We've learned from this process that there are several areas in this seven-county region that, by state law or simple common sense, simply wouldn't work," Jackson said. "What we have left are some general areas in southern Perry County, northern Bollinger County and eastern Madison County."

He said the committee wouldn't get more specific than that for some time to be sure landowners who have potential sites don't boost the price of the real estate.

There's no timeline for when the group must make a final decision. The only requirement was to have siting criteria by June, and that was released in March.

The next step is to narrow the choices to four or five sites, then two and then one. Engineers will perform water and soil tests on the final site to see if it can get Missouri Department of Natural Resources approval.

But that's another complication. The DNR had oversight of all the solid waste districts and their waste disposal plans. On Jan. 31, Cole County Circuit Judge Byron Kinder issued an order saying Senate Bill 530, which is behind all the solid waste changes, was unconstitutional.

In his opinion, the department couldn't force counties to form districts and then pay thousands for solid waste plans without state government putting up some money.

Now Southeast Missouri Solid Waste District's plan is in limbo. It was submitted to the DNR once, sent back for corrections and submitted again. It sits in Jefferson City, but Morgan said the district wants to request the DNR to review it again and send it back.

"Although it can't require us to do anything, we want the DNR to make suggestions," he said. "If we stop now, we waste a lot of time and money."

District officials predict a landfill site, along with an approved plan, will be announced by the end of the year.