The Vilas County Highway G Landfill Venture Group will be able to continue expansion giving the county a place to deposit garbage well into the future after the Wisconsin DNR last week gave the green light to remove 72 acres from the county forest adjacent to the present operating landfill.
The executive committee recently received the good news from their consultant, Eric Lietz of Oakridge Engineering. “We will now have to prioritize the dates for expansion into the 72 acres and how to sequence the expansion,” Lietz said. “For now we can keep the scale and office where they are but improve the traffic flow and public drop off area.”
Officially, the county has to transfer the land by county board approval and amending the current operating agreement with the Landfill Venture Group, composed of 14 of the counties 15 municipalities. The land borders Highway G on the north and Pincherry Lake Road on the west.
The county Forestry, Land, & Recreation committee is expected to have the transfer resolution on their November 5 agenda and have a timber sale that will leave buffer zones near the public roads.
Liner clay will have to be identified for new cells with a known source in Michigan but a possible source in Presque Isle that will be tested to see if it meets DNR specifications. If approved, it would be about 15 miles closer for transport. With the abundant rain this year, leachate volumes are likely to exceed four million gallons for treatment in area community wastewater treatment facilities.
The committee is looking at participating in a leachate treatment system currently under a pilot project in Minnesota. Current treatment facilities in Eagle River, Rhinelander, and Lakeland are used to leachate treatment.
