Sumpter Township Board hears landfill proposal for deep wells

The Sumpter Township Board of Trustees heard a long presentation on Republic Services’ plan to put a couple of deep wells on its household waste landfill site at Carleton Farms to dispose of liquid waste.
Scott Cabauatan, municipal services manager for Republic; Ken Cooper, engineer, of PetroTech; Gary McCuistion, Republic’s director of market planning and development, based in Texas; and James (Bobby) Reese, Republic’s Environmental Manager, based in Ann Arbor, gave the details at the board’s work/study session before its regular meeting, via zoom, on Sept. 28.
McCuistion said Republic operates 189 landfills in 41 states, 79 recycling centers, and has 14 injection wells. He said this landfill has been in the Sumpter Township community for 20 years, covers 664 acres, and has 30 employees.
He said Carleton Farms has distributed $4.6 million to the local communities and 57% of that went to Sumpter.
He said a deep well provides for the underground injection of wastewater. He said there 800 wells like this in the United States and 22 deep wells operate in Michigan.
He said the wells would be located within the landfill facility and there would be no hazardous waste involved. The waste would be developed on site.
He said the wells would be 3,827 feet deep and would be below the groundwater drinking zone. It is estimated they can pump 180 gallons per minute.
McCuistion said the deep wells would eliminate 15 or more truck trips they now need to send leachate off site.
He said the deep wells are regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state. He said the depth would be 10 football fields or .6 mile below the surface.
McCuistion said Class 1 wells are cemented all the way to the top and there are strict closure plans that use bonded money to maintain plugged and abandoned wells. The wells would be within the ground water monitoring area of the landfill.
He said they will launch a website within the next 10 days at CarletonFarmsdeepwell.com .
When Trustee Tim Rush said the landfill was forced upon the township, McCuistion said there are 22 wells in Michigan and they are operated extremely safely.
Cooper, a registered professional engineer in Michigan, said, they work with injection wells all over the country.
Cabauatan said City Environmental originally developed the site. He said this will keep 15-17 trucks off the road and help keep the landfill competitive.
“We are a business … trying to manage our bottom line and keep volume flowing into Carleton Farms,” he said.
McCuistion said it will cost tens of millions of dollars to install the deep wells and controlling leachate and disposing of it is a big project.
Trustee Peggy Morgan asked how long the deep wells are good for and McCuistion said it could be thousands of years.
Cooper said every 10 years the EPA comes to look at what they said they would do. It will last many, many decades, he said.
Trustee Morgan asked what the downside was, noting, “Everything has a downside.”
McCuistion replied, “We personally don’t see a downside… It will be an asset to the area and will properly manage leachate for many, many years.”
Trustee Morgan said less trucks will be running, but is it a financial benefit to the township?
McCuistion said Republic is investing millions of dollars and they will run massive electric motors to run the pumps, which will require more employees. He said it is not really a cost-reduction for them.
He said it is estimated that there will be a reduction of 341 tons of CO2 a year.
Supervisor Tim Bowman asked how much longer Carleton Farms is expected to be open and Reese said it has 35 years of life left right now.
Supervisor Bowman asked if after it is full that site never is useable and Reese replied they have many years of managing the leachate.
McCuistion said there is new technology all the time in ways to use the land in and round the area, suggesting a golf course or recreation area.
Trustee Rush said he would like to sit down and have a burger with McCuistion to hear all the plans, but he’d also like to talk about the electricity for the pumps.
Rush said DTE is failing the people of Sumpter Township. He said over the last four weeks he’s been without power for four days.
“This is the first time I’ve heard you have a power problem,” McCuistion said. “I will look into that.” He said they are nine months to a year away from starting.
“I can eat two burgers while you-all talk,” he said to Rush.
Township attorney Robert Young noted this is not a hazardous waste disposal site, like Romulus, and they are not taking leachate from other locations. He said it is limited and self-contained.
McCuistion said the technical revision is done on the application and in 45-60 days it could be approved.
Young said the township has the ability to comment, but the decision will be made by the U.S. EPA.
The landfill is located in the far southeast portion of the township.