City of Laredo, Texas, purchases Ponderosa Landfill for $24M

Laredo, Texas, City Council has agreed to purchase the 500-acre Ponderosa Landfill for $24 million, expanding the city’s expected landfill capacity by another 100 years, reports the Laredo Morning Times.

There are still eight to nine years of space left in the existing landfill, plus another five or six if they can move a power line, City Manager Robert Eads noted.

According to the Morning Times, the city still needs to work with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to transfer the solid waste permit from Ponderosa’s owner, Regional Land Management Services, to the city. Eads said they won’t be able to start moving trash there for about a year.

Roberto Treviño, owner of the Ponderosa Landfill, said they started operations in August 2013. The City of Cotulla is the only municipality in the region that uses their facility to dispose of waste, and 15 of the 346 total acres of the landfill’s capacity has been used at this point, he said.

The city will be sending out notices to neighbors of the landfill to advise them of the change in ownership, Eads said.

The council approved a $12 million draw down from the solid waste fund to cover the purchase of the landfill.