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Kelly Braaten is driving on Highway 81, north of Grand Forks.  He lives in the small town of Manvel about ten miles north of the city.  Braaten turns onto a blacktop county road, drives a short distance and brings the car to a stop.  Then he gets out of his car and points to the adjacent field. 

The square mile of land is owned by the city of Grand Forks. This is where the city wants to build a new landfill.  It's located near two major roads and a railroad line, so access isn't a problem. Below the surface is what concerns Braaten.  He tells about helping geologists dig a hole on the site to test water.

"We have video of our geologist being stuck in the bottom of it, it's that soft, and it couldn't support a human," says Braaten.  "That was six, eight feet deep and it couldn't support a human and they're going to stack garbage forty feet high with four feet of dirt on top of it out here."

Braaten believes building a landfill on the site is courting trouble. Daryl Bragg agrees. The two men are part of a citizen's group that opposes the landfill. Bragg is a retired school administrator who grew up on a nearby farm. 

"The water table there is three to five feet below the surface and according to the engineers for Grand Forks they brought in to do the environmental impact statement,  the landfill will sink eight feet," says Bragg.  "So it (garbage)  will be in the ground water. We feel this will pollute the water, the water table and eventually end up in the Red River."

Local officials were convinced the landfill presents a threat to water supplies.  While the city of Grand Forks owns the site, the land is controlled by the Turtle River township. The township board voted against a permit   for the landfill.

Todd Feland, director of public works for the City of Grand Forks, says the city is being treated unfairly.

"When we did go to the township they asked for an environmental impact study to be conducted," says Feland.   "The city did that environmental impact study and the study came back to say you could design a landfill at that site."

Feland says decision makers ignored the precautions planned for the landfill.  Flood dikes would be built to protect the site and a plastic liner would be in place at the bottom of the landfill. Feland says Grand Forks officials have no choice but to sue.

"The township has not been fair and reasonable in reviewing the site itself as a potential option for a landfill," says Feland.  " So, because we disagree with the final resolution that the township board made, we feel we need someone else to review their decision."

That someone else will be in the state district courts of North Dakota although so far no date has been set for the case. Feland says Grand Forks is in a difficult position because  the city's current landfill is expected to be full by the fall of 2008.  Feland expects no matter what decision is handed down in court it will be appealed and he says it will be years before a new landfill will open.

"I think at the earliest we're looking at 2010 as when we could have a new landfill," says Feland.  "Perhaps a more realistic time frame is 2012."

Feland says garbage now dumped at the Grand Fork's landfill will have to be shipped somewhere.  City officials are developing plans on where the garbage will go.

Gallery

Environmental News

For the past decade the city of Grand Forks has fought to build a new landfill. The latest round in the fight will send the issue to court.

Fight over proposed Grand Forks landfill drags on

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