County commissioners approved a letter to be sent to the Nevada congressional delegation in support of obtaining a land disposal which would expand the Western Elite landfill south of the Alamo under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act.

At the commission meeting July 16, County Building Director Cory Lytle said this would involve releasing about 400 acres of BLM land south of Western Elite’s current property on the west side of U.S. 93. The commissioners discussed the terms of a lease agreement and landfill operations between the county and Western Elite.

Varlin Higbee said negotiations have been ongoing in regards to hauling garbage from the south end of the county to Western Elite. “There are a couple of paragraphs in that agreement that needed to be changed, which we are working to do.”

Scott Seastrand, vice president of Western Elite, indicated at the meeting that the company is also very interested in completing the agreement so the process for a Class 2 facility can continue moving forward.

Higbee said getting the lands, with the help of the congressional delegation, “gives Western the assurance we are serious about going through with this. We’re not just going to get to a point and cut it off.”

Commissioners talked about how being able to transport garbage from the Pahranagat Valley and Rachel area to Western Elite, instead of to Crestline, “will cut our dump costs by 30 percent. A Class 2 facility, as the additional landfill would be, can take a maximum of 20 tons per day.

Higbee noted that, at present, the southern part of the county is only creating about three tons of trash per day.

But it is still being taken to Crestline, about a 160 mile round trip from the valley to the landfill.

Being able to go to Western Elite will help reduce costs for customers in the south part of the county.

Higbee said the cost of freight in hauling the garbage from all around the county “is a great deal of the overhead costs, upwards of 65 percent.”

Crestline would continue to operate for customers in the northern portion.

Higbee noted that such an agreement would be of great benefit also to Western Elite, “to open the door for them in the future in that when Coyote Springs does start building homes and becomes a planned community, it will give Western Elite a stronger chance to get a landfill contract with Coyote.”