Sand Springs: State's Biggest Dump

[MichaelC]

From Tulsa  World

quote: SAND SPRINGS -- The state has given American Environmental Landfill permission for an expansion of its landfill, making it the biggest in Oklahoma, officials said Wednesday.

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality gave the company permission for 152 more acres adjoining its current landfill operation in Sand Springs.

American Environmental Landfill has a 70-acre landfill along 177th West Avenue just north of the Sand Springs Expressway.

That landfill has a life expectancy of 10 more years before it's filled, according Todd Green, the company's general manager.

The 152-acre expansion would add 50 years to the landfill's operation, Green said.

Once the current 70-acre landfill has reached its capacity, trash-dumping will shift to the expanded site, he said.

In a statement released Wednesday, owner Kenneth Burkett credited the company's employees and their commitment to excellence for the expansion's approval.

"AEL takes this responsibility very seriously, forever endeavoring to remain a friend to the environment as well as to the community we serve," he said.

The statement says the added landfill space allows for future economic growth across
the region.

Green said half of the company's business comes from cities around Tulsa, including Broken Arrow, Jenks and Bixby.

To the west, the company serves Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Mannford, Cleveland, Hominy and several other communities, he said.

Sand Springs City Manager Doug Enevoldsen praised the landfill expansion's approval.

"The planned expansion by AEL offers assurances not only for Sand Springs but for other communities in the Tulsa metropolitan area that there will be a convenient, adequate and environmentally sound solid waste repository for many years to come," he said.

Enevoldsen called American Environmental Landfill a "quality operation that is sensitive to both environmental issues and community issues."

Green said the company is trying to draw off methane gas from the decomposing trash to sell to area gas users.

He said wells are being developed in the landfill to collect the gas and pipe it.

Green said the company's property also contains several coal veins and that methane gas from them would be added to the gas from the landfill.

One gas user in Sand Springs is willing to buy the gas once American Environmental Landfill can deliver it, he said.

Landfill waste, if handled properly, can be used as fuel to power an entire community, Green said, comparing it to Tulsa's trash-to-energy plant.

The firm also says revenue from a successfully operating landfill can be used to improve schools and roads.

[dsjeffries]

What honor to have the title of the State's largest dump!

Congratulations!

Actually, I'm sorry to see the landfill expanded (Sand Springs does <b>not</b> need to become the "Staten Island" of Tulsa).

[cannon_fodder]

Trash has to go somewhere...

[sgrizzle]

Trash Springs?