Possibility El Paso will expand landfill in Clint has some Clint residents concerned

Some Clint residents are concerned the City of El Paso will break a legal agreement by expanding the city-owned landfill in Clint, while City officials say the enforceability of that agreement is in question.

In late January, City Representatives agreed to pay $5.2 million for 1,214 acres of land next to the landfill. The additional acres could add 80 years of use to the landfill, if the City were to pursue a state permit to use the land to expand the landfill. Currently, the City estimates the landfill will last another 17 years.

In 2002, then El Paso Mayor Ray Caballero signed an agreement with three Clint residents and a legal group called Alianza representing the residents. In the document, the City agreed not to expand the landfill. City Attorney Sylvia Firth told the City Council there are issues with the enforceability of the agreement because Alianza has since dismantled and the City cannot locate the residents who signed the agreement. “We are in contact with them (residents who signed the agreement). I don’t understand how the City hasn’t been able to reach them,” said Diane De Haro, a Clint resident leading a steering committee to try to stop the expansion of the landfill. De Haro said though Alianza is now defunct, the residents surrounding the landfill still oppose expansion.

The City’s Environmental Services Director Ellen Smyth said the recent purchase of land does not break the agreement because there are no concrete plans to expand. “We don’t intend to develop this land anytime in the near future, it’s just a buffer to keep homes from being built up around us. If a developer were to buy that land and start putting in streets and houses, then later on we’re just going to have more complaints about the landfill. This piece of land just keeps anyone away from the landfill and that’s all we’re doing,” she said.

De Haro is not convinced. “Why would they want to buy 1200 acres for more than $5 million to not do anything but use it as a buffer? It doesn’t make any sense. They’re going to want to expand.”

The 2002 agreement was signed by Clint residents Elia Saucedo, Alicia Rivera and Lucy Falcon plus Daniel Solis, who had formed ‘Alianza para el desarollo Comunitario’, the group representing the residents. The document calls for the City to conduct semi-annual cleanups for Colonia residents living near the landfill, providing them with rolloff dumpsters, free of charge. It also allows residents or inspectors of their choice to inspect the landfill. Both the City and De Haro claim respective parties did not follow the agreement.

“We’ve done everything that we agreed to. We’ve had the free cleanups, we have open access if they ever want to come inspect us. They have not taken advantage of what they were… they were supposed to come in and inspect us and they haven’t done any of that,” said Smyth of the Clint residents.

De Haro alleges the City failed to do the semi-annual cleanups until 2011 when residents brought the issue up to the City and Environmental Services. “They were in breach of the contract and we spoke with them hoping to have productive outcomes,” said De Haro.

Smyth said if the City decides to expand the landfill, it wouldn’t be for another ten to 50 years. “It’s a state policy for permitting that there’s public hearings where everybody gets to come and have their input and then the hearing officer from the state would make a determination on any of the findings,” she said of the landfill expansion permitting process.

De Haro hopes that day never comes. “I feel betrayed. My children will be here years from now.”

The landfill was permitted for the City in 1983, though there are city records that show “landfilling” occurred on the site as early as 1960, before significant development in the area.