The Vermont Environmental Court has extended the life of an Advanced Disposal Services Inc. landfill by at least 90 days in a dispute with a state agency.

Advanced Disposal’s landfill in Moretown, Vt., was facing closure April 15 as the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) denied recertification of the landfill for failure to control odor and landfill gas emissions and for groundwater quality issues. The Vermont Superior Court Environmental Division extended the ANR deadline to July 15, according to the court ruling.

“We will continue our fight for the right to operate the landfill in a safe and compliant manner through our pending appeal and will also pursue a Cell 4 expansion,” said Dave Lavender, regional vice president for Advanced Disposal, in a statement.  “We firmly believe that Moretown Landfill is a vital economic asset that benefits all including the state of Vermont, the town of Moretown and the businesses and residents who rely upon the site for a cleaner and greener community.” 

The landfill since March 15 has not fully shut down but the only waste accepted was limited to contracted materials, said Mary O’Brien, chief marketing officer with Advanced Disposal, in an e-mail. “It was only after the Environmental Court ruled that Advanced Disposal could remain open until July 15th that we felt that the landfill was re-opened to accept the local residential drop-off waste and recyclables.”

Advanced Disposal, doing business as MLI with the Vermont landfill, outlined to the Moretown Select Board the improvements it has made to the operation and its plan for using the remaining airspace and expanding into the next cell. The company is revising and strengthening its landfill application to address items such as removing the two underground leachate storage tanks, re-plumbing the leachate force main and addressing a new access plan for the site.

The company said it has invested more than $1 million in improvements to the site in the past 10 months and hired a new management team.