April 24, 2019

County wants company to address landfill odors

County wants company to address landfill odors

By Betsy Ryan
Farmer Staff Writer

Keene stinks, according to many area residents. The alleged cause is Republic Services’ recovery, treatment and disposal facility on 108th Avenue, which was the topic of discussion at last week’s McKenzie County Board of Planning and Zoning and county commissioners meetings.
The Republic Services facility has operated with a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) since 2014. In the original permit, the facility was approved to use five million cubic yards. In its five years of operation, they have used only one million cubic yards and are projected to take approximately 10 to 15 years to use the remaining space.
Republic Services is seeking approval to add two million more vertical cubic yards to their CUP, which would extend the life of the facility another five to seven years.
As the facility’s request to amend their permit came to the forefront of discussion in both county meetings last week, elected officials said that they have been inundated with resident complaints.
“The people who wrote in do not like that the facility exists,” said Jill Helmuth of the planning and zoning department while reporting on the proposed amendment to the county commissioners. “They certainly do not want to see it expanded.”
The resident feedback all boiled down to two complaints - the poor road maintenance of 108th Avenue and the stench.

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