City Starts Process To Build Landfill At Fort Bliss

El Paso City Council has begun a potential four-year process to build a landfill at Fort Bliss and possibly a waste to energy plant.

The City was slated to implement flow control in 2014, a system that makes the collection and disposal of waste a municipal duty, instead of allowing the private sector to do it.

The flow control plan included opening the McCombs landfill and expanding the Clint landfill at a cost of $18.5 million. Now, those plans may be in limbo.

City Manager Joyce Wilson told City Council on Tuesday there would be no point in opening the City-owned McCombs landfill if two years later, the City permitted the Fort Bliss landfill.

A U.S. Army group, the Energy Initiatives Task Force, aimed at developing large-scale renewable energy projects on Army installations, has proposed Fort Bliss provide 500 acres to the City for a landfill.

Construction, permitting and maintenance of the landfill would be the City’s responsibility. It would take four years to complete the process, officials said Tuesday. Both commercial and City waste would end up at the proposed landfill.

The plan has two components: the landfill and a waste to energy plant. City Environmental Services officials said they are looking for a company willing to own and develop the waste to energy plant. Though it’s still a possibility the City will operate the facility.

Environmental Services officials said comparable land can only be found in Tornillo. Officials said it would be cheaper to drive waste to Fort Bliss than to Clint and that the proposed landfill would last longer because only 15 percent of waste would be buried there. The rest would go to the waste to energy plant, which would burn waste and convert it to electricity for Fort Bliss.

Post and City officials hope El Paso Electric will come on board for the waste to energy plant.

Constructing the landfill would cost the city $15,000 per acre. That’s $7.5 million for the 500 acres.

When asked by City Rep. Emma Acosta why the Army would not permit or construct the landfill, officials said the Army does not want to be in the business of managing landfills.

The resolution passed 7 to 1, with Cortney Niland voting against it.

“This looks very sexy on paper, but I don’t see how this will benefit the residents,” Niland said.