BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) – Landfill expert Dr. Craig Benson is tentatively scheduled to provide Bristol, Virginia city leaders with a report on his findings at the landfill via Zoom on Feb. 8, according to City Manager Randall Eads during a brief landfill update at the monthly City Council meeting Tuesday.
“My goal is to correct this issue as quickly as we possibly can,” Eads said. “And that’s the Council’s goal as well. We all recognize this has not gone as quickly as any of us would like it go. And, I’ve said on numerous occasions before, if I had a switch to flip, I would have switched it off a long time ago. Unfortunately, I don’t have that switch.”
Eads’ landfill update included information about the current state of the landfill as well as next steps. Those steps include staging a 24-month plan in preparation for the upcoming fiscal year, scoping for a clean out of the north end of the site, and a setback postponing a clean out of the south end due to cold temperatures. Remediation of the chimneys where gas is escaping should be completed by the end of the week, he said.
Eads reported that 700-800 cubic feet per minute of gas is being pulled off the landfill currently. The city is also operating wells at 30-40%. They are also looking to replace a 30 horsepower motor in the coming weeks. There are 100-horsepower motors still in operation at this time.
He also encouraged the community to continue to monitor the Bristol, Virginia website for more information as it emerges.
