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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesAnguilla Landfill to Reach Capacity Next Year

Anguilla Landfill to Reach Capacity Next Year

While St. Croix trash is now being baled, the bales are still going to the Anguilla landfill, which will run out of capacity sometime next year, V.I. Waste Management Authority Executive Director May Adams Cornwall said in budget hearings Monday.

With St. Croix’s transfer station up and running, Anguilla is no longer accepting trash at the landfill itself and residents must take their refuse to the island’s collection centers or the recently completed convenience center at Peter’s Rest, Cornwall told senators.

With the trash being baled, WMA is now processing waste in a form acceptable to the Federal Aviation Administration, and V.I. Port Authority concerns should be alleviated, Cornwall said.

The FAA has in the past held up capital grant funds to the V.I. Port Authority for work on the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport over the potential for birds attracted to the dump to become flight hazards. And the agency has threatened to hold up funds again, if the landfill does not solve the bird problem and close down.

With the landfill now only taking baled debris, Cornwall believes the FAA will be satisfied on their next visit. An FAA visit had been planned for this week, but was delayed due to Tropical Storm Isaac, she said.

For now, trash can still be disposed of in the landfill. But "by the middle of next year we might run out of capacity and that means nothing can go in there," Cornwall said.

On St. Thomas, a methane gas collection plant is up and running. Plans to connect the plant to the island’s electric grid and sell power to the V.I. Water and Power Authority are in the works, she said, but depend on locating funding.

The authority’s Fiscal Year 2013 General Fund budget is $23.8 million. This is a $3.4 million reduction from the FY12 General Fund appropriation of $27.2 million.

The 2013 General Fund budget includes $4.3 million for wages and salaries, $1.6 million for associated employee benefits, $630,000 in supplies, $14 million in "Other Services and Charges," and $3.2 million for utilities.

The Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund is expected to contribute another $3.6 million, of which $1.5 million is for wages and salaries, $599,000 for associated benefits, $163,000 for supplies, $1.4 million for "Other Services and Charges," and $26,000 for utilities.

The Sewer Fund is projected to contribute $3 million for supplies and other sewer costs. Another $1.3 million will come from the St. John Capital Improvement Fund; and $300,000 from the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund, for a grand total appropriation of $32 million.

No votes were taken at the information gathering hearing.

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