TCE Covers Blue Ridge Landfill Victory!

Blue Ridge Landfill Opponents To Get Their Day In Court, TCEQ Rules

Opponents of industry giant Allied Waste’s plans for a major expansion at Blue Ridge Landfill will get a chance to air their grievances in what’s known as a “contested hearing,” the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality decided Wednesday.

“They granted us a hearing on every issue we asked for,” said environmental attorney Richard Morrison, who represents a citizens group called Coalition Against Blue Ridge Landfill Expansion, which opposes the expansion.

Morrison also said the TCEQ ruled that three Houston TV stations have standing in the case and can present arguments at the contested hearing, which likely will be scheduled at a hearing next month.

Allied had argued that the three stations – KTRK Channel 13, KHOU Channel 11 and Fox affiliate KRIV – shouldn’t be allowed to raise concerns they have, that the Blue Ridge expansion would result in refuse being piled so high it would block out the stations’ Doppler radar signals.

Allied Waste operates Blue Ridge Landfill at 2200 F.M. 521, a mile north of Fresno in Fort Bend County. Allied wants to increase the landfill “waste footprint” from the current 302 acres to 784 acres, and increase the maximum height at which refuse can be piled, from the current 58 feet to 170 feet.

But at that height, say officials with the TV stations, the giant mound of garbage would block weather radar signals from the stations’ towers, 3 miles or less away to the northwest, hampering efforts to track hurricanes, tornadoes or other severe weather. . . (click the title link above for the full story).

Get updates on this grass-roots effort at: http://cabrle.spaces.live.com/

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Side note/comment:

This blogger finds it a wonder that with all the real problems threatening our homes/health (i.e. no MC hospital/school over-crowding/high foreclosures/expanding airports & landfills that this city administration/mayor supported) that Mr. Owen would be pushing a tax buster purchase of a private golf course by the city. They don't even discuss the possibility of the involved MUD & HOA fund handling the purchase and protecting the tax paying public.


Stay informed and keep in touch!

FBS-Landfill Company Claims Public Welfare Not A Concern In Expansion Hearing!

pict from FBN
Waste firm claims weather radar blockage not public welfare concern

By Cheryl Skinner
Two of the three Houston TV stations, who have contended the proposed expansion of Blue Ridge Landfill could block their Doppler radar signals and prevent accurate tracking of approaching hurricanes, really shouldn’t play a part in the forthcoming hearing to determine if opponents of the landfill expansion will get a contested hearing from the state, say landfill officials, according to Richard Morrison the attorney representing a grass roots organization trying to stop the expansion.

Morrison said a document filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, attorneys for Allied Waste subsidiary Blue Ridge Landfill TX LP did agree that a citizens group opposing a major landfill expansion has issues viable enough to request a contested hearing before the TCEQ, but only one of the television stations has the same right. Two of three TV stations who want to participate in a contested hearing don’t qualify because they are about a mile away from the landfill, Morrison said the landfill attorneys are claiming. A law firm representing the television stations is expected to dispute this contention at the forthcoming hearing.

Allied Waste operates Blue Ridge Landfill at 2200 F.M. 521, a mile north of Fresno in Fort Bend County. Allied wants to increase the landfill from the current 302 acres to 784 acres, and increase the maximum height at which refuse can be piled, from the current 58 feet to 170 feet. The mountain of debris, opponents claim, will create health issues, quality of life deterioration and lower property values.

At the height proposed by the waste company, officials with KTRK Channel 13, KHOU Channel 11 and Fox affiliate KRIV Channel 26, the tower of trash would block weather radar signals from the stations’ towers and effectively create a problem in forecasting hurricanes and tornados in the Gulf Coast region.

A citizens group called Coalition Against Blue Ridge Landfill Expansion organized last year in opposition to the landfill and secured Morrison, an environmental attorney, to file protests on their behalf.

Surprisingly, Blue Ridge owners agreed that nearly every issue CABRLE raised in objection to the expansion is relevant for discussion in a contested hearing, Morrison said Monday. “I am hopeful, somewhat happy but I am still hedging my bets because we still could get screwed,” he said of the hearing that could win the group a contested hearing. A contested hearing is somewhat like a court trial, he explained. Each side would present evidence supporting their claim and a judge would decide the issue. If the CABRLE side prevailed it could stop the expansion. . . .

. . . Click the title link for the full story from FB Star.


OP/ED from Cheryl Skinner (FB Star):


Weather radar not important to the health and well being of the citizens?

I found it extremely amusing, not to mention ludicrous, that the attorneys representing Allied Waste plan to contend that the possible blocking of three major television networks Doppler radar is not a matter of public safety but is an issue of economics.

Well, Duh! Here is a large company who wants to build a tower of trash claiming everyone in watching distance of Channel 11, 13 and 26, can just go out and look at the sky to see if a hurricane is approaching or a funnel cloud swirling in the sky. Give me a break! And, to claim that the TV stations could just relocate those towers elsewhere is strange coming from a garbage company who says it would be “too costly” to relocate that heap somewhere else in the county (or state—hint, hint).

I would think all the citizens in those viewing areas would consider it a matter of public safety. Now what the state regulatory agency thinks should be interesting. Somehow, they always seem to favor the landfills. I wonder if they get tipping fees too.

The ball is in the court or does the commissioner court have the balls?

(get the full OP/ED piece at: http://www.fortbendstar.com/Columns/skinner_cheryl.htm)


Stay informed and keep in touch! Many Missouri City area communities share water-ways with this landfill property and with a 2005 Barium leak (highly toxic and water soluable chemical) and with the Missouri City Council & County Commissioners accepting "tipping fees" to not oppose the expansion, this is getting interesting.

FB Sun Covers Landfill & T.V. Station Problem (Near Missouri City)-

Television stations claim landfill will block Doppler
By: John Pape

The proposed expansion of the Blue Ridge Landfill in eastern Fort Bend County is facing a new obstacle after two Houston television stations claimed the increased height would interfere with their weather radar signals.

Both ABC station KTRK (Channel 13) and CBS affiliate KHOU (Channel 11) said that if the landfill was allowed to increase its height from 50-feet to 170-feet as proposed in Blue Ridge's pending expansion permit, the two stations' Doppler weather radar signal toward Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico could be compromised.

The landfill currently has a permit pending before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to increase the height of the landfill to add more capacity. That application has drawn vocal opposition from area residents and environmental activists.

Rick Lowerre, an Austin-based attorney representing the television stations, said that the reduced effectiveness of the weather radar could present a significant threat to the public during severe storms.

"The stations would no longer be able to give the same type of advanced warning of some hurricanes, tornadoes and other adverse weather conditions," Lowerre said.
Allied Waste, operator of the Blue Ridge facility, did not return calls for comment. . .


Click the title link above for the full story--

FBS Covers Landfill & Local TV Station Controversy (3 articles--click title link for first one)

TV stations say landfill expansion could
knock the wind out of hurricane warnings

By Cheryl Skinner
A prominent Austin environmental attorney has entered the battle to keep Blue Ridge Landfill from gaining an expansion permit that will allow it to pile trash 170 foot high. Three Houston television stations are now saying the plan could knock the wind out of Doppler radar predictions and impact the public safety of the entire area.


Austin attorney, Rick Lowerre, says he has filed paperwork with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on behalf of three Houston area television stations. In a press release last week Lowerre said at least two Houston television stations will ask the State to deny a permit to expand a Houston area landfill.

KTRK Channel 13 (ABC) and KHOU Channel 11 (CBS) filed documents last week in opposition to the height increase of the landfill because the increase would block the stations’ weather radar towers, putting the public at great risk from hurricanes and other severe weather events, Lowerre said. In a phone interview Monday, Lowerre said FOX television had also joined in the attempt to thwart the expansion because that station also has towers in the immediate area of the landfill. . .(get the full story by clicking title link above).

Other FBS related stories:

http://www.fortbendstar.com/Columns/skinner_cheryl.htm

http://www.fortbendstar.com/041807/n_Commissioners%20use%20BFI%20tipping%20fees%20for%20Arcola%20area%20youth%20program.htm

Local T.V. Stations Oppose Blue Ridge Landfill Expansion (Click title link for more)-

TV Stations: Landfill Trash Heap Would Block Doppler Radar, Put Public At Risk
by Bob Dunn, Apr 15, 2007, 11 07 am

The safety of everyone in the Houston and Galveston region will be at risk if Blue Ridge Landfill expands, because the giant pile of refuse would block Doppler radar signals and prevent hurricane detection, three Houston TV stations claim.

That information surfaced in documents filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Those documents include a request by Houston’s ABC, NBC and Fox Broadcasting television affiliates to formally contest plans by Blue Ridge Landfill TX LP to expand Blue Ridge Landfill, at 2200 F.M. 521, a mile north of Fresno in Fort Bend County.

The landfill’s owner, a subsidiary of industry giant Allied Waste, wants to increase the landfill “waste footprint” from the current 302 acres to 784 acres, and increase the maximum height at which refuse can be piled, from the current 58 feet to 170 feet.

But at that height, say officials with KTRK Channel 13, KHOU Channel 11 and Fox affiliate KRIV, the giant mound of garbage would block weather radar signals from the stations’ towers, 3 miles or less away to the northwest.

“The landfill, if so constructed, would block the radar signals to much of the southeast and preclude the collection of weather information, such as the location, speed and direction of movement of hurricanes in parts of the Gulf of Mexico,” Austin attorney Richard Lowerre wrote in a request for a contested hearing over the landfill expansion. “The expanded landfill would also prevent the tracking of tornados and other storms to the southeast.” . . .

ABC13 Covers Landfill Proposal--

Landfill is a tall concern for some residents
By Miya Shay
(4/02/07 - KTRK/FORT BEND COUNTY, TX) - A trash company is looking at expanding a landfill from the current 40 feet limit height to a proposed 170 feet.

Also on ABC13.com:

The landfill expansion proposal would happen on FM 521, just south of McHard Road, but it's not just the extra landfill that's a concern.

The landfill sits inside the Fort Bend County lines, but it's just across the street from a major Pearland neighborhood. Besides worries about the environmental impact, there is a new concern. Will a bigger and higher landfill affect how you get your weather information?

Along the fort bend and Brazoria County lines, the Blue Ridge Landfill is already in operation, but plans to expand the dump site is causing nearby Pearland city officials plenty of concern. That's especially with the growing Shadow Creek Ranch subdivision just across FM 521.

"It's right across the street from the fastest growing master planned community in the Houston area," said Kevin Cole of the Pearland City Council. "We have a lot of concerns from the people across the street from here."
For the people who live in the area, it's not just the sight and smell that worries them. If the landfill expansion is approved, it could eventually grow to 230 feet high. That level is much higher than the Doppler radar towers of several TV stations, situated nearby.

"It's a flat area, it's got great visibility, so it happens to be where a lot of the TV stations have put up their radars," said ABC13 Chief Meteorologist Tim Heller. "Unfortunately the landfill is also in that same spot." . . . (get the full story and the streaming video by clicking the title link above).

Also get this FBN story and thread at: http://www.fortbendnow.com/news/2754

Contribute or volunteer to CABRLE by seeking more info at: http://cabrle.spaces.live.com/

Get more on the MC candidates that oppose this landfill expansion proposal at: http://mcelectioninformation.blogspot.com/


Stay informed and keep in touch. This landfill shares waterways with our community!

FB Sun: Hunter, Tunstall & Griffin Speak Out On Blue Ridge Landfill Decision--

More than 1,000 signatures on a petition from residents opposing expansion of the Blue Ridge Landfill in Missouri City failed to derail the Texas Commission on Environmen-tal Quality's consideration of a permit application submitted by Allied Waste Services.


In a letter dated March 16, the commission deemed the waste company's application as having "met the requirements of applicable law."

A letter, sent to residents who commented at a recent public hearing, read, "The executive director has made a decision that the above-referenced permit application meets the requirements of applicable law.

"This decision does not authorize construction or operation of any proposed facilities.
"Unless a timely request for a contested case hearing or reconsideration is received, the TCEQ executive director will act on the application and issue the permit."

Allied, owner of the landfill, is proposing to expand the site to accommodate solid waste disposal for the next 40 years.
Proposed plans would enlarge the facility by a little more than 1,300 acres and increase the landfill's height from 58 to 170 feet.

The Coalition Against Blue Ridge Landfill Expansion, a group formed to protest the expansion, hired Richard Morrison, a local environmental lawyer, to represent residents' interests during the application and public hearing process. The group also spearheaded a campaign to garner signatures of residents opposed to the expansion.

Morrison said he plans to file a contested case hearing on behalf of CABRLE in the 30-day period following the commission's decision. A contested hearing may be requested by "affected persons" and must include a description of how and why the proposed facility creates an adverse effect on the health and safety of the individual or negatively impacts property, according to the letter. . .

. . .Several candidates in the upcoming Missouri City council race voiced their concerns.

Rodney Griffin, a candidate for the District A seat, called the TCEQ's decision a "travesty."
"What was the Missouri City City Council thinking when they took the tipping fee from Allied Waste? Certainly not the citizens. We will be victorious in another forum, but sadly not now," Griffin said.

District C candidate Kevin Tunstall, a resident of Sienna Plantation, echoed Griffin's concerns.
"I am puzzled why anyone would want a landfill next to our community and remain in opposition of having such a facility in such close proximity to not only our city, but that of our neighbors in Arcola and Fresno," Tunstall said.

Lou Hunter, candidate for Missouri City's District B seat, agreed with his fellow candidates.
"It defies all basic human consciousness and common sense to entertain the idea to expand a landfill leaking of barium less than a mile from 80 drinking water wells. It makes you wonder if there's an evil, comic-book-scripted, villainous midget behind the scenes trying to take over the world," Hunter said. "It's ridiculously inhuman. Some things just aren't worth the gamble."

An official release issued Dec. 19, 2006 reflected the city's stance on the landfill issue.

"Missouri City is not in opposition of the landfill expansion since it entered into an agreement along with Fort Bend County indicating that it would not oppose the project. We followed the county's lead in the negotiations," city manager Frank Simpson was quoted as saying in the release.

The only Missouri City councilmember to sign the petition opposing the landfill's expansion was District D Councilman Brett Kolaja, according to Sienna Plantation resident and CABRLE member Chris Calvin. Kolaja is the only Missouri City incumbent that did not draw a challenger in his bid for re-election.

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Comment--Although Sienna & Sienna area residents can't vote in the city races of Arcola or Mo-City it is important to remember we have an interest in those races (the airport expansion/road diversion issues in Arcola and development issues with MC). Please support Mr. Hilton & Ms. Rojas along with Jim DeVoge as independent candidates in those races (not EDC backed). You can volunteer to block-walk make phone calls etc. for these candidates or the Mo-City challengers Rodney Griffin, Lou Hunter & Kevin Tunstall. E-mail us at responsible_dvlpmnt@yahoo.com to find out how to volunteer and help these candidates who have sworn off the special interest funding (they need your help to take back local control). We can vote in the school board races and have endorsed Noel Pinnock, a Missouri City educator with long-term experience in the schools at all levels (he also has kids in the system). Please look into these races and decide for yourself.

FBN Covers TCEQ Ruling Against Area Homeowners in Landfill Expansion Decision!

Click the title link for the full story!

TCEQ Director Rules In Favor of Landfill Expansion Near Missouri City!

Just in:

The executive director of the TCEQ has just entered a ruling against close to 1100 homeowners who participated actively on a petition drive against the expansion of the Blue Ridge Landfill near Missouri City. This story hit the local news and t.v. stations in November and December 2006 with coverage of the dozen or so neighborhoods from Sienna Plantation over to Shadow Creek Ranch, as well as the more established communities between.

Richard Morrison, an environmental attorney for CABRLE, reported at one hearing, the statistically significant levels of Barium released, which caught many by surprise here, given many of our streams pass on or near that facilities property. Later Pearland and Brazoria County would join the opposition, but Missouri City officials and Fort Bend County would refuse to help because they had already entered into an agreement not to contest the expansion a few years ago in lieu of $200k and 800k tipping fees respectively. This caused quite a stir in the local media with complaints to Mo-City council coming as late as the March 5th 2007 city council session by area residents.

The next step will be for those receiving responses from the TCEQ in favor of the landfill to request a contested hearing. Time is limited so responses must move quickly. Several council/district candidates here in MC have lined up in opposition to the contract and the expansion (Lou Hunter, Rodney Griffin, Noel Pinnock and Kevin Tunstall).


Stay informed and keep in touch!