The Maryland Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved a short-term extension to the Days Cove Rubble Landfill’s lease on state park property as officials prepare for its impending closure.
The lease extension, which runs through May 29, will allow the White Marsh rubble landfill to continue operating for the next several months while the Maryland Department of the Environment finishes reviewing a pending discharge permit application for the facility and Department of Natural Resources officials work with the facility’s operator and community members to quell concerns about what’s next for the site.
The decision by the three-member board comes weeks after the landfill withdrew its request to increase its wastewater discharge volume to up to 25,000 gallons of treated leachate, or “trash juice” — double the flow already allowed.
Days Cove Rubble Landfill, which sits on land within Gunpowder Falls State Park on a peninsula formed by Days Cove and the Bird and Gunpowder rivers, has faced intense opposition from neighbors and environmental advocates, who have raised concerns about public health impacts and called for stronger protections for the area’s waterways.
Last month, the board was poised to consider a new eight-year lease for the landfill, but the proposal was withdrawn from the agenda mid-meeting to allow DNR to continue negotiating with its operator to address community concerns.
DNR plans to close and cap the landfill to turn it into a publicly accessible space, though doing so will take time and collaboration with both neighbors and the landfill operator, David Goshorn, deputy secretary of the Natural Resources Department, said Wednesday.
Goshorn said he expects to return to the Board of Public Works with a long-term plan and new lease for the site in late April or early May. He also expects the pending discharge permit to be issued before the lease extension is up.
State officials have already met with community members over the holidays and are planning another meeting later in this month to discuss closing and capping the landfill, as well as hearing residents’ input on what they’d like to see the land used for once the landfill is finally closed.
The Days Cove landfill operator has even offered to bring the group to the site to show them how it operates and what needs to be done to wrap up operations, he said.
“I obviously can’t guarantee a 100% agreement on every 100% of the issues,” Goshorn said, “but at the very least, when we come back to you in the spring, we’ll have a plan that is informed by these conversations where everyone understands where everyone’s coming from.”
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