New solid waste disposal system discussed
By Obed Escontrias
Presidio County Commissioner
Presidio County Judge Jose Portillo Jr. and Presidio County Commissioner Obed Escontrias traveled this past week to the North American Development bank (NAD) Board of Directors meeting in Mexico City.
The meeting included government officials from the U.S. (Treasury, State Department, EPA) and Mexico (Hacienda, SRE, SEMARNAT) to coordinate binational environmental infrastructure projects along the U.S. and Mexico border. NAD bank has funded projects in the past for the city of Presidio as well as for the city of Ojinaga.
NAD bank was founded in 1994 and funds water, sewer and solid waste projects throughout the borders from Tijuana/San Diego all the way to Matamoros/Brownsville. During the meeting, Portillo was the first speaker that presented the projects that the bank has funded for our communities in the past.
Portillo emphasized the need for a new landfill (solid waste disposal) and stated that our landfill in the city of Presidio serves the county and is close to shelf life. Portillo stated that NAD Bank supported a project in Presidio where the city was losing 40-45% of its water from leaks and thanked the EPA for their support and help. The project changed values and installed a secondary tank and a lift station as well.
Portillo also asked for the bank’s technical assistance program for the planning of the new landfill. NAD Bank President John Beckham directed his words to Portillo and said, “Thank you for your kind words, and thank you for trust in working with us because that’s a two-way street; solid waste is a priority for the bank, and we look forward to getting information from you.”
Presidio County working with the city of Marfa and the city of Presidio are planning and working on details for this new “Solid Waste Disposal Facility,” which will be used as a regional landfill to dispose solid waste from Big Bend National Park, Brewster County, Presidio County and the colonias of Redford, Shafter, Ruidosa, Candelaria and Las Pampas.
Portillo was invited to this meeting back in March, and NAD Bank has been in previous virtual meetings with the judge, city officials and administrators from the Rio Grande Council of Governments (RioCOG) to start the planning on the new landfill. Presidio Mayor John Ferguson and Marfa Mayor Manny Baeza are in full disposition to make this project a success.
Portillo and Baeza traveled two weeks ago to Chaparral, New Mexico, to meet with the city officials and toured their lift station facility. The lift station will be constructed in the city of Marfa to transfer the solid waste picked up in the area and then trucked to the landfill in Presidio. Recently, Marfa has been hit with high disposal charges and that amount is about to go higher. The city and county officials are working in the trash collection system for the Marfa residents to lower their utility cost.
At the end of the meeting there was time to meet and greet, including with Usha-Maria A. Turner, EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs from Washington, D.C. She told Portillo that she was glad to see him again and was happy to know that they had helped the city of Presidio in the past. She added that the EPA has money to help with the solid waste disposal.
This trip to Mexico City was a big hit for Presidio County and for the future of its constituents. In the upcoming Commissioners Court meetings, officials will be discussing and planning the future of the county’s solid waste disposal.