Texas County Seeks State Funding to Restore Recycling Facility

Lubbock County, Texas, has made an appeal to the state to fund the cleanup of an abandoned recycling facility nearly a decade after it burned for a second time and was ordered to shutter.

The property had operated as a recycling facility under an exemption from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), according to a KCBD report. It caught fire in 2002 and again in 2009. After the second fire, TCEQ convinced a judge to shut down the facility and ordered the owner to clean it up, according to the report.

Now, the city and county signed a joint resolution to ask the state to fund remediation efforts at a cost of $11.7 million.

KCBD has more details:

Nearly a decade after it burned for a second time and was ordered to be shut down, Lubbock city and county leaders believe this may be the year when an abandoned recycling facility is cleaned up.

“The City and the County have long sought assistance in fixing this problem,” Mayor Dan Pope said. “In fact, this is the third [legislative] session in a row that this has been the top legislative priority for the City of Lubbock. This has not today nor has it ever been a City of Lubbock or a Lubbock County problem but it’s one that affects us and our community.”

The property sits across Interstate 27 from the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. According to officials, while not permitted, it operated as a recycling facility under an exemption from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In 2002 and again in 2009 it caught fire and smoldered or rekindled for up to a month later.

Read the full article here.