County MUA Gets Final OK for Pineland Landfill Expansion

SWAINTON – Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority (CMCMUA) got final approval from the New Jersey Pinelands Commission June 12 to expand its Sanitary Landfill on Rt. 610 in Woodbine after a long application process and a challenge from a woodpecker.
Expansion will add about 70 years to the life of the landfill to handle county solid waste.
Executive Director Charles Norkis said the existing cell currently being used, constructed two years ago at a cost of about $7.5 million, has enough space to last until about 2015.
Construction of the new landfill cell will begin in three years at a cost of over $10 million. At about the same the same size as the current cell, 18 acres with a height of 130 feet.
During required environmental studies for commission approval, a Redheaded Woodpecker, a state-designated threatened species, was found creating its habitat on the proposed site. As a result, the authority agreed to develop and maintain a woodpecker habitat on the landfill site as a condition of approval.
The authority must preserve about 12 acres including a 300-foot diameter around the bird’s nest and 75 feet around its area of observed activity, to protect its flight pattern.
Although woodpeckers average expected lifespan is about three years, areas are permanently deed-restricted as the bird’s offspring may return and it’s considered a preferred habitat since it chose that area to nest.
Norkis told the Herald the New Jersey Pineland Forrest has been protected from landfill uses by law since 1990. However, since the Cape May County Sanitary Landfill is preexisting, it is permitted continued use.
Cape May County MUA has the only landfill in the state-protected Pine Barren Forrest.
The authority has owned the landfill site since May of 1984. Norkis said it was the first landfill in the state to use a liner. Prior to that, in the late 1970s and early 80s, several municipalities, including Dennis Township and West Cape May, had individual unlined landfills, which were discontinued and covered, Norkis said.
Now five-foot thick liners are used to protect from runoff into ground water supplies.
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved landfill expansion but Pineland’s Commission required a new storm water management plan that was more stringent than that of the DEP, Norkis said.
MUA paid $4.8 million as a mitigation payment to the Pinelands Commission in exchange for expansion approval.
Norkis said the amount of trash the landfill receives has decreased. Whereas the landfill got about 250,000 tons of trash in 2005, this year he anticipates a total of 150,000 tons.
“We want to make it last as long as we possibly can,” Norkis said.
He said there would likely be solid waste issues in upcoming decades.
Finding undeveloped non-environmentally sensitive large plots of land that is not close to residential areas is difficult in this densely populated state.
“Landfills don’t make good neighbors,” Norkis said.
He said the ability to take care of solid waste within the county is a cost-saving asset for residents because it eliminates expenses of transportation and out-of-state fees and described the landfill expansion project as a “legacy for future generations.”
Norkis noted that Cape May County has the second lowest tipping fee in the state, second only to Cumberland County.
He said the MUA tries to put as little as possible in the landfill through recycling.