The Central Weston County Solid Waste District began the process for creating a transfer station in Osage in 2012 and the district now has an operational transfer station, according to district board member Cindy Crabtree. With the completion of the transfer station, the Osage landfill needs to close, according to Craig McOmie, a landfill remediation/cease and transfer program manager for the Department of Environmental Quality.
On July 17, McOmie asked the Weston County commissioners to allocate consensus funds for the grant match for landfill closure. He reported that the Osage landfill is 14th on the priority list for landfill closure and is listed in the statutes for $700,000 in funds, a rough estimate of what closure could potentially cost.
McOmie explained to the commissioners that the largest recommendation he can make to the State Loan and Investment Board is a 90 percent grant and 10 percent match, meaning that the county could be responsible for up to $70,000 in matching funds, depending on the total cost of the project, if the grant recommendation is approved. He added that last time he checked, Weston County had $142,000 in unencumbered funds designated for solid waste projects.