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.” . . .

Supreme Court Challenge May Be An Option In Blue Ridge Landfill Expansion (See this Houston Chronicle Piece)--click on the title link for more-

Landfill opponents prepare for court fight
State agency says operator's proposal meets legal guidelines

By ZEN T. C. ZHENG
Houston Chronicle

Opponents of a landfill expansion proposal in east Fort Bend have decided to bring their fight to court after a state environmental agency concluded that the operator's plan satisfies its legal guidelines.

Richard Morrison, attorney for opponents, said he will seek a "contested case hearing" on the project by Blue Ridge Landfill, TX, LP, a subsidiary of Allied Waste Industries, which operates as BFI in the Houston area.

The hearing, to be presided over by an independent administrative law judge, will have to be granted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, whose executive director, Glenn Shankle, is poised to issue a permit for the expansion.

In a letter to 1,100 opponents who commented on the project during a December public hearing and in written form, Shankle determined that the company's application for the expansion "meets the requirements of applicable law." . . .

. . . Morrison said, "The deck is stacked against us, but it's not that we don't have a chance."

Opportunities exist to appeal an unfavorable ruling and bring the case up to the Supreme Court, he said.

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Comments: It was good to see Bret Kolaja from the district D city council position in MC sign on as the only council member against the landfill expansion. CABLFE wants to thank Rodney Griffin, the challenger in district A, for his attendance and support at the CABLFE regular meeting. Keep up the good work guys!



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