CFCW’s statement and position on the $18.00 “fee” placed on the landowners of Baxter, Marion, Boone, Carol, Newton and Searcy Counties. We feel that this “fee” is unjust and that ADEQ is responsible for replenishing the monies in the same way the emergency fund is maintained.. The landholders of these six counties are not responsible for the disaster of Nabors landfill. The “bond holders” should have been settled with the collateral that was originally set if defaulted on. The fact that the Ozark Solid Waste Management Division is able to levy a fee for services is also a point of contention as ADEQ set up the Waste Management Districts in the first place and gave them their rules to operate by in addition to issuing a permit to have Nabors run by a bunch of politicians. These counties did not “vote” to purchase the landfill and in fact Baxter County voted against it when presented as a tax to purchase Nabors. Our legislatures need to draft legislation that would prevent any waste management district from adding fees to the public without a proper election or vote by the people. As it is currently set up, it is a tax being called by another name. In fact it is collected as the first payment toward paying your property tax. (you cannot pay your taxes without this $18.00 being paid first so that if you don’t pay the $18.00 you are delinquent on your property taxes. This is just not right.)

CFCW has been and continues to be vigilant in protecting our water by periodic testing of steams near the landfill which run into our lakes.

This letter was sent to local paper – Baxter Bulletin

Dear Editor,

My name is Dan Cohee and I am the President of Citizens for Clean Water (CFCW) in Twin Lakes area. CFCW has been a watchdog group incorporated in 1978 and has been involved with getting the Nabors landfill fixed and properly closed since 2005.

CFCW would really like the citizens of Baxter County and surrounding areas to have a heads up and be aware of new information. It recently has come to CFCWs attention that the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has changed its position on the landfill. 23 million dollars has been freed up by the State to allow ADEQ to step in and to correct the regulatory violations at the landfill and to properly close the landfill. Tammy Hynum, ADEQ Chief of Hazardous Waste Division, has recently stated that they, ADEQ, wants to(quote)mend the problem areas in hopes of someone taking it over and operating it.(end-quote) If it were to be put in operation again it would be the financially strapped solid waste district who would run it. The same entity that got it into its current situation!

It is never a good idea to have a government body own a landfill. In 2005 six counties bought the property and landfill and hired a company to manage it. They, as owners, became the Board of Directors. Having the 6 County Judges and the Mayors of the larger towns on the Board started off well, however it quickly soon started going insolvent. Prices were raised, but the elected officials could not agree on what to do. The Board of Directors changed every time there was an election. Some saw better, less expensive, options, and took their trash elsewhere, causing further stress on the landfill finances. These Public officials tried to declare bankruptcy, but it was thrown out of court. The state of Arkansas has now had to step in to correct the landfill, now estimated 18 million dollar price tag to correct the current regulatory violations.

The Nabors landfill stopped taking trash in 2010, and should not need to be reopened. This landfill is dangerous to the long term health of Baxter County tourism, property values, and the safety of our waterways and ground water. The landfill is located in Karst topography – which is formed of limestone, gypsum, and other soluble rocks, and is characterized by sinkholes, caves and underground drainage. We should not have our water contaminated. The landfill needs to be fully corrected and permanently closed by ADEQ.

Sincerely,

Dan Cohee

President, Citizens for Clean Water

cfcwtl.org

The landfill has still been the major focus for CFCW. We worked to defeat the tax solution as a non-viable solution to the citizens of Baxter County. The landfill closed its doors for receiving more trash on December 1, 2012. This should have resulted in the full correction and closing of the landfill but instead everything just came to a standstill.

We had to give ADEQ a notice of intent of lawsuit in December 2012 for not enforcing ADEQ regulations. This caused movement with ADEQ filing a law suit 12 February 2013 in the Baxter County Circuit Court against Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District, claiming OMSWD failed to start the fixing and proper closure of the landfill when the trash flow to the Nabors landfill stopped on November 30, 2012.

The Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District filed a response to the ADEQ lawsuit and also filed for bankruptcy, naming Ozark Bank and ADEQ as creditors. Bankruptcy case was dismissed by court. Senator Johnny Key introduced legislation on 10 February 2014 which cleared the way for ADEQ to access funds so the fixing and full closing of the landfill can be done while the final outcome of who pays is worked out through the law suits.There has been some action taking place since the start of 2015. The leachate is being collected and removed by contract with ADEQ by Inland Services and bore sampling is now in progress to ensure there is enough proper soil to to use as cover for the site closure.