Mallard Lake News

One week after seeing the Killbuck Concerned Citizens downtown last week, the Herald-Bulletin reports three of our local state legislators are calling a meeting regarding Mallard Lake.

On June 29, State Reps. Terri Austin, D-District 36, and Scott Reske, D-District 37, and State Sen. Tim Lanane, D-District 25, submitted a letter to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management requesting a public hearing to address J.M. Corp.’s pending application for renewal of its landfill operating permit.

“Records indicated there have been no opportunities for public input on this issue for several years,” read the letter, which was addressed to IDEM Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Director Sandra Flum. “We believe that it is appropriate and timely to allow an expression of public opinion prior to a final determination on the pending application.

“We would also request that this hearing be conducted in Madison County to allow for the fullest possible participation by individuals and organizations who have an interest in this issue.”

Austin said such a hearing is not required, but hopes that the public interest over the past four decades will persuade IDEM officials.

Frankly, I am not sure that any political or legal wrangling will ever solve this problem as well as making the landfill economically unfeasible. The only way in, my mind, to make the landfill a bad business venture is for the county (and surrounding areas) to reduce, if not eliminate, the need for a new landfill. The only means I can think of to reduce the need for a landfill requires increased recycling and/or finding other uses for the solid waste (such as fuel for energy generation).