LAWTON – The City Council agreed recently to a consent order issued on Valentine’s Day by the state Department of Environmental Quality in reference to the city’s sanitary landfill.
While inspecting the landfill on Nov. 1, 2023, the DEQ “observed that the Fiscal Year 2022 financial assurance mechanism update” that was due on Dec. 31, 2022, “had not been submitted” to the agency for approval. The FY 2023 financial assurance mechanism update that was due on Dec. 31, 2023, also “has not been submitted to DEQ for review.”
Consequently, on Feb. 14, 2024, the agency issued a Notice of Violation of the state Administrative Code provision on “closure/post-closure cost estimates.” The “financial assurance mechanism” is proof that the city has sufficient resources to safely and adequately shut down the landfill if it needed to.
During a closed-door executive session July 9, the council authorized city officials to enter into a consent order with the DEQ. The decree requires the City of Lawton to submit to DEQ an alternative financial assurance mechanism in the amount of the currently approved cost estimates of $9.1 million no later than Oct. 31.
The consent decree also assesses a penalty of $1,400, although DEQ agreed to defer payment if the city completes the task by Oct. 31. However, if the city does not complete the task by that date, a penalty of $1,500 per day will be imposed for each day of noncompliance after Oct. 31.
The City of Lawton owns 760 acres for solid waste disposal, Caitlin Gatlin, the city’s communications manager, told Southwest Ledger last November. The landfill currently occupies 243 of those acres and the remainder are for expansion, she said.
Two more cells will be excavated at Lawton’s sanitary landfill under a $3.84 million contract the council awarded in May to 4x Construction Group of Mansfield, Texas, the lowest of four bidders for the job. City Engineer Joseph Painter said construction should be completed within 260 calendar days.
The new cells 6 and 7 will be individual waste-holding units inside the overall landfill, and each cell will encompass approximately 9.6 acres, Gatlin said.