LOCALLY OWNED
Ours is a culture and a time immensely rich in trash as it is in treasures.” — Ray Bradbury A JOURNAL OF THE BORDERLANDS FEBRUARY 2013
Est. 1994
Vol. XVIII No. 2 64 PAGES
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LareDOS Newspaper
Public meeting to air concerns or support for proposed Hwy. 359 landfill – 1,100 acres of ranchland to impound 350 million tons of trash
C
arlos Benavides III, one of four principals in Rancho Viejo Waste Management and Pescadito Environmental Resource Center, speaks in superlatives of moving forward to bring to fruition a 1,100-acre municipal solid waste facility (MSW) on ranchlands east of Laredo off Hwy. 359. The proposed site, which will have a 910-acre footprint and the capacity to impound 350 million tons of waste, is located along Jordan Road, which runs due north off Hwy. 359 at a point about 25 miles from Laredo. Benavides will take part in a February 28 public meeting hosted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) – the agency that issues permits for municipal solid waste facilities. The meeting will offer a discussion on the proposed landfill and will hear public comment for and against the facility. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in Room 236 of the TAMIU Student Center. Benavides said he is prepared to answer any questions and will have a presentation and a copy of his permit application to share with members of the public. He is confident the landfill, which will also accept used coal and grease trap oil and grit, will not be a nuisance to neighboring ranchers who have long valued the respite and quietude of their lands. “We’ve always been respectful of our neighbors. The site is a quarter-mile from any neighbors. Our immediate neighbors, the Martins, have not objected. There is
no significant number of rooftops within three-and-a-half miles of us. It is only in our own backyard,” he said of the site. Benavides believes the waste treatment facility will “have tremendous economic impact as a taxpayer and in the generation of 47 skilled fulltime jobs. It will be good for Laredo, Webb County, and the region. We want to meet the needs of the community as a whole. ” He said that the geological anomaly of the Pescadito Salt Dome on his family’s land has formed “a perfect clay box for the landfill” and “a perfect sanctuary for trash.” He said 90-feet of the facility will be underground and that its aboveground height will be another 90 feet. Benavides said that though the facility will not be permitted for oilfield waste, the TCEQ has suggested that he look into Railroad Commission permitting for such waste. He said the facility will recycle metal and plastics and will eventually include a tire-shredding operation. “Because of the salt dome anomaly and the clay box formation, the landfill will not affect potable water at any depth,” he continued. Benavides said the enterprise was “self financed.” Shaw Engineering, a Fortune 500 company, has designed the facility. Geoff Conner, former general counsel for the TCEQ, represents the Rancho Viejo interests in the landfill project. While Benavides speaks in effusive terms of mounds of municipal waste towering 90-feet over the ranchlands, some members of his family and his neighbors see the proposed facility as an environ-
mental debacle that will have an irreversible impact on the lives they have known on land passed down through generations. ANB Cattle Company, Ltd., which is owned by Benavides’ cousins Anna B. Galo and Arturo N. Benavides Jr., will file a formal objection opposing the MSW permit. According to a draft of that objection, ANB owns land within, adjacent, and in the immediate area of the proposed facility. ANB takes issue with the assertion that Rancho Viejo is the sole owner of the lands to be permitted as well as all lands bordering the proposed facility. The draft reads, “ANB objects to the application and the construction and operation of the proposed facility on lands owned (whether in whole or in part) by ANB and/or lands which border or are in close proximity to lands owned by ANB for the following reasons: the application does not specifically address flood plain issues which may result in contamination of neighboring tracts by flowing water; the application does not explain the effects of the proposed landfill on area wetlands and/or measures to mitigate damage thereto; and the application does not sufficiently address the possible effects of the landfill on ground water and the local aquifer.” ANB asserts that certain of its lands within and adjacent to the proposed facility are Mineral Classified Lands for which the State of Texas owns the oil, gas, and other minerals in, on, and under those lands. ANB, the draft reads, is the owner
of the soil and as such has certain corresponding duties and obligations with regards to the preservation and development of those state-owned mineral interests. The draft of ANB’s objection opposing Rancho Viejo’s permit points out that the minerals on and under certain lands within and adjacent to the proposed facility are owned by the Benavides Family Mineral Trust (BFMT) and that ANB, a beneficiary of the BFMT, and other beneficiaries of the trust would be adversely affected by the State and BFMT being unable to explore and develop minerals underlying Mineral Classified Lands. The draft also takes issue with the perpetual non-exclusive right of way easement extending from Hwy. 59 over and across ANB land, as well as with an easement extending from Hwy. 359. ANB maintains that increased truck traffic would overburden those easements. Neighboring ranchers like Sharyn and Jerome Jordan, who share a fence line with the proposed dump, have posted a written objection with the TCEQ. One of the Jordan tracts, a 186-acre parcel abuts the proposed landfill to the east. Another 360-acre tract is about a halfmile away. Sharyn Jordan concurs with ANB’s opposition that the application does not specifically address flood plain issues, which could result in runoff that has the potential to contaminate surrounding properties. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
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