I read with interest “Landfill Manager Defends Expansion in Supreme Court” in Wednesday’s Post-Journal relative to the ongoing plans to expand the Chautauqua County Landfill. Both sides raise legitimate issues, but like most issues some measure of compromise may be in the best interest of all parties. One compromise that might be considered is the elimination of out of county waste.

Chautauqua County has a resource which isn’t currently available to neighboring communities. Haulers outside our area choose to deposit waste in Chautauqua County’s landfill because the cost of tipping fees and the cost of hauling the waste to the Ellery facility are less than those of competing facilities. If the county is forced to increase tipping fees to cover the surcharges requested by the town of Ellery, those higher tipping fees may force these haulers to seek other disposal options. At some point, increasing tipping fees will cause entrepreneurs to obtain permits and cite a landfill elsewhere – that’s economics.

Like any other county resource, legislators have taken an obligation to manage the landfill in the best interest of its patrons, the residents of the hosting communities, and the county taxpayers. One option for the management of that facility that I have not seen or heard discussed might be to restrict use of the landfill to only Chautauqua County residents and businesses. Doing so accomplishes several goals. First, it preserves the life of the existing landfill. Second, it reduces the impact of heavy equipment from out of the area waste haulers on our local roads. Third it reduces the litter that these vehicles inadvertently drop on local properties as they traverse our roads. Fourth, it would reduce noise from those vehicles to Town of Ellery residents. If that statement seems trivial, spend a little time on the Bemus Point /Ellery Center road and ask yourself, “Would I appreciate that impact on my lifestyle?” Fifth, restricting the use of the landfill preserves the remaining capacity and reduces the footprint of any future expansion thus helping to preserve the value of surrounding properties and the tax income from them for the county and for the Town of Ellery. Sixth, restricting the use of the landfill to Chautauqua County residents and businesses lowers the probability of out of the area haulers bringing in waste containing undesirable or even illegal components. Finally, the availability of the landfill for potential businesses at an affordable price is, or should be, an economic incentive for businesses to locate in Chautauqua County-just like tax abatement, low cost electricity, or any other incentive-and it should be marketed as such.

It is my belief that the landfill was never conceived of as a “profit center.” Increasing the size of that facility to cite waste that no other community wants seems, at best, counter intuitive. Let our residents, the host town(s) and our legislators determine the size of facility that best suits our county’s residents and businesses. I am certain the landfill manager will counter that, “We need a larger landfill to amortize the cost over a larger volume.” Yes, as in any business, there are fixed costs that are required, but many of those costs would be lessened by lower volume, and a smaller landfill.

Relative to point number six above, one of the greatest costs of planning for a landfill is, or ought to be contingency funding for future leakage of the cells that comprise that landfill. Have no doubt about it, those cells will leak, it is only a matter of time, and the magnitude of that leak. Prior to retirement, I worked as an environmental health and safety manager for a Cattaraugus County business. That firm had used cleaning chemicals long before my tenure, which escaped into the groundwater. The environmental cleanup of that site lasted literally decades, and eventually bankrupted the company. A leak from a landfill cell would place a very heavy remediation burden on the residents of the Town of Ellery, and Chautauqua County taxpayers.

I personally transport my waste to the landfill or transfer stations, not because I think I can save money over the cost of having that waste picked up by a commercial hauler, but because I want to see and understand the operation at those sites. While admittedly I am only there one or two times a month, I have never been asked to open a bag of “garbage,” nor have I seen any inspection of incoming trash-either private or commercial. Reducing waste coming in from other areas may not eliminate any concern about the content of that waste, but it certainly will reduce that threat.

I believe The Post-Journal would be more than willing to publish the results of an independent study on the options available for a landfill including: extending longevity by restricting use, expansion at the existing site, or establishing a new site (that is if there is a township that would consider hosting a landfill), as well as the size of landfill appropriate for our county Perhaps restricting the landfill to local use and planning for something less than a 53 acre expansion might make all aspects of the landfill plan more readily tolerable to all parties.

Fletcher Ward is a Bemus Point resident.