Bishop - County moves to keep dump dust down

9-8-2007

Like spitting in the ocean.
That would be the ocean of sagebrush and soft dirt surrounding the Lone Pine Landfill. With any luck, the dump will soon become an island of hard dirt held in place by almost $40,000 worth of dust-busting chemicals.

A windy day at the Lone Pine landfill can quickly beocme a dusty day. Shown is wind-driven dust blowing north right out the dump?s entrance gate. The county will spend about $40,000 on dust control chemicals that will reduce the dust coming out of the dump. Photo sumbitted

After being cited and fined for generating “fugitive dust,” InyoCounty will try to capture and smother most of the dust coming off the Lone Pine landfill by applying Soil Sement on a total of about 18 acres of dirty land throughout the landfill.
Even if that initial dust-suppression effort is successful, the landfill will continue to generate some dust, noted county officials.
Since it’s surrounded by virtually bone-dry land in every direction and upwind from the Owens Dry Lake, a windy day will still whip up plenty of dust in the area east of Lone Pine where the dump is located.
In fact, several test sites where various dust-suppression chemicals and techniques have been applied at the landfill already have a fine cover of dust resting atop the treated, non-dust-producing sections of dirt.
All of which is simply a warning that despite the county’s best efforts and best dust-control programs, the dump will still be a dusty place on windy days.
The county can’t control the land surrounding the dump, but it can try to cut down on the dust coming from the landfill itself.
After researching about a dozen options for dust-control at the site, the county’s Integrated Waste Management department decided to apply a polymer emulsion solution called Soil Sement on the 18 acres generating the most dust at the dump, said Chuck Hamilton, deputy county administrator.
The cost for buying and applying the dust-control chemical will be approximately $39,600, which comes to about $2,200 per acre, Hamilton said.
While that might sound a bit pricey, the Soil Sement solution doesn’t cost that much more than simply spreading hay on the area, at a cost of $1,200 per acre. Even the cost of spreading wood chips on the dusty areas at the dump is a fairly steep $8,400. On the high end, applying liquid asphalt would cost $13,000 an acre, and placing asphalt grindings on the 18 acres would cost $15,000 an acre.
The Soil Sement “is not the cheapest option,” Hamilton said, “but for the money it’s the most effective for the cost.”
Hamilton said a number of companies brought their dust solutions (chemical and otherwise) to the Lone Pine dump for some testing. The dump dirt presents a challenge for the potential dust busters because it is an “extremely powdery and puffy” soil mixture, Hamilton noted.
Indeed, walkers moving a few feet off the road into the dump can send up little puffs of dust with every step as their feet sink into pockets of soil the consistency of baby powder.
Because of that soil and the wind, “there are no magic or easy fixes to control the windblown-dust” at the landfill, Hamilton noted.
One of the reasons the Soil Sement solution was chosen was that it came with a two-year guarantee, noted Hamilton, whereas most other types of dust-control chemicals and products could not offer a similar long-term promise that the product would continue to tamp down the dust.
Plus, the polymer emulsion is ecologically safe and friendly, noted Bill Peek, of Peek Communications, of Bishop, which will supply and apply the Soil Sement. The solution is “absolutely harmless to people, bugs and the environment,” Peek said, adding that it has even earned the approval of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The product is currently being used by the local Caltrans District 9, on some Bureau of Land Management roads and in Forest Service campgrounds for dust suppression, Peek said.
At the landfill, the Soil Sement will be applied to various “surface areas,” landfill slopes, access roads and haul roads, Hamilton noted, with the total area covered coming to about 18 acres.
The cost of the dust-control work was anticipated and included in the recently approved 2007-08 budget.
While that acreage represents “the area of immediate concern,” Hamilton said treating those sites will just be part of what has evolved into a never-ending dust-suppression effort at the landfill.
In February, the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution District issued the county two citations for violating air quality regulations at the landfill. Hamilton noted the citations were issued on days when the dump was closed. The county paid a $1,000 fine for those violations and began various dust-suppression efforts at the dump, he noted.
Those efforts will continue and be refined as staff gets more acquainted with various dust-control options. “We’re starting to become dust experts,” Hamilton said.
“It’s likely that it will take a combination of methods to effectively control fugitive dust” coming off the dump, Hamilton noted. The county will also have to monitor the dump seven days a week and take action to cut dust, if possible, on days when the wind blows and the landfill is closed, he added.
Dump employees have been applying water to the big barrow pit at the entrance to the dump and the “working apron” where dumpers and heavy equipment work. Plus, wood chips from the Bishop dump are also being placed on some slopes and level areas to cut down on dust. (Keeping the stream of wood chips flowing could eventually depend on getting a new, industrial-strength grinder/wood chipper to replace the old one at the Bishop landfill that caught on fire. The county is investigating various financing options combining insurance money, grants and possibly a financing plan to replace the tub grinder.)
In the future, Hamilton said a variety of other chemical dust-control products, ranging from calcium chloride to pine tar to cement- and paint-based chemical treatments, and more natural items such as hay, hyroseed and gravel will probably get tossed into the dump dust battle.