King offers plan to quash waste facility

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PHIL RIDDLE/DEMOCRAT PHOTO Weatherford Rep. Phil King, at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing in the case against the proposed waste transfer site in Aledo, urged local cities to change garbage vendors if plans go through for the facility.

March 11, 2010

Greg Webb WEATHERFORD DEMOCRAT The Weatherford Democrat Thu Mar 11, 2010, 05:30 AM CST

WEATHERFORD — Phil Riddle

editor@weatherforddemocrat.com

Weatherford State Representative Phil King Wednesday urged cities in eastern Parker County to use new waste collection companies in the future, in an effort to halt the construction of a waste transfer station in Aledo.

King, one of about 50 concerned area residents, was allowed to speak prior to the beginning of Wednesday’s hearing contesting the approval of a 2008 permit application for Republic Waste’s planned waste transfer station in Aledo.

“I would strongly, strongly encourage the cities to exercise their authority outside the courtroom and outside this legal process,” King said. “The cities of Aledo, Willow Park and Hudson Oaks all have contracts with the parties represented here today for their waste delivery. It would be easy for them to say ‘We will never, ever renew our contracts with Republic again.”

King’s two-minute speech concluded, saying if the contracts, which all expire within the next two years, were not renewed, the facility’s construction would be a moot point.

“That’s tremendous negotiating authority for [the cities],” he said. “Without the contracts, I suspect there’s no need for the waste transfer facility.”

Wednesday’s meeting was the opening phase of the contested case hearing regarding the waste company’s proposed facility, which would serve as a holding place for locally collected waste, which would ultimately be loaded onto long-range transport trucks for movement to landfills or other distant sites.

Republic hopes to build the facility on Nu Energy Drive between Interstate 20 and Bankhead Highway.

Estimates suggest as many as 280 curbside pick up vehicles and as many as 90 long-range trucks would come into the station daily. Nearly a half-million pounds of waste would reportedly be processed on a daily basis.

The location of the proposed station, about a third-mile from Aledo High School and athletic complex, has prompted protests from Aledo ISD, the City of Aledo and Parker County Judge Mark Riley.

“I feel strongly this facility would create an obnoxious odor, worsen air pollution due to the hundreds of truck trips that would occur daily, and create a severe traffic safety hazard for nearby high school students and the community in general,” Riley said in a June 2009 press release.

Though several in attendance Wednesday had planned to speak, presiding judge Richard Lothong made Wednesday’s agenda clear from the outset.

“This is a preliminary hearing, and as the name suggests, we’re only going to take care of preliminary matters,” Lothong said. “The hearing where witnesses will testify is not going to happen today. It’ll happen at sometime in the future. Also, today is not a day where we’ll be taking public comments. There have been prior hearings where parties were entitled to make public comments, that is not the case today.”

Lothong said the hearing was to establish notice and jurisdiction issues in the case as well as give those who wish to be granted party status the chance to do so.

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King offers plan to quash waste facility

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