Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact: Forrest Peterson, 320-441-6972 St. Paul, Minn. -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has issued a new five-year permit allowing Renville County to continue the operation and development of its sanitary landfill in Henryville Township, about seven miles south of Olivia. The landfill has received waste since 1971. About 32 acres of the 94-acre site currently are designated for holding solid waste, including demolition waste. The landfill also accepts waste tires for temporary storage before they are transported to a processing facility, and appliances and scrap metal for temporary storage prior to recycling. Approximately 6.5 acres out of the nine acres approved for actual waste storage cells in 1991 have been constructed. Cell 1 was constructed and began accepting waste on June 1, 1994. Cells 2 and 3 were constructed in 1999 and 2003, respectively. Cells 1 and 2 were closed in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Cell 3 is currently being used for waste storage, while Cell 4 remains to be constructed. According to a 2008 annual report, the remaining capacity is approximately 214,000 cubic yards in the municipal solid waste area and 152,320 cubic yards in the demolition disposal area. These capacities represent approximately 13.1 years and 54.7 years of operational volume, respectively. The facility's monitoring systems includes a series of vents to reduce the underground movement of methane gas produced during waste decomposition, groundwater monitoring wells, and upstream and downstream surface water monitoring of the West Fork Beaver Creek. Under the authority of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets environmental standards to be met by municipal solid waste landfills. The MPCA has the authority to issue permits and specify limits, perform compliance monitoring and enforce federal standards. For more information about the Renville County landfill permit, contact Tony Bello, MPCA-St. Paul office, 651-757-2219 or toll-free at 1-800-657-3864. A public information meeting about the permit was held July 28 during a public comment period. For more information about the landfill program, visit the MPCA Web site at www.pca.state.mn.us/cleanup/landfills.html.