Consultant outlines multi‑year timeline for new regional landfill near Pecos

Tyler Krueger, an associate with Parkhill Smith & Cooper, told the Pecos City Council on Jan. 23 that work on the city’s existing landfill cells is on track and that the city should begin permitting work for a new lined landfill.

Krueger said the city’s current cell construction should yield about 10 years of remaining life at the existing site and that the consultant has identified a roughly 150‑acre parcel southwest of town with no “fatal flaws” in an initial screening. He said the next steps are a geotechnical investigation (soil borings) and preparing a permit application for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

“Once we get this prepared, we’re gonna submit it to TCEQ,” Krueger said. He described a two‑phase TCEQ review—administrative then technical—and said the agency typically takes about a year to review a permit. Krueger added that public notice and public comments are required during the permitting process and that comments can extend the timeline.

Krueger gave a planning estimate for the full schedule: roughly a year to prepare the permit, about a year for TCEQ review, and 18–24 months for design and construction. “Overall, what I tell cities is that expect it to take about 4 to 6 years to get a fully operational new landfill,” he said.

On capacity and waste types, Krueger said the city currently accepts about 50 tons per day and that, under the current “air exempt” designation, the existing facility is limited to 20 tons per day of Type 1 (household) waste and 20 tons per day of Type 4 (construction and demolition) waste. A new lined landfill would remove those daily tonnage limits and allow the city to accept more types of regulated waste if the city chooses to permit them.

Krueger discussed depth and profile in general terms: a conservative preliminary estimate for the new facility was 45 feet below grade, with potential to go deeper depending on groundwater and geotechnical results; above‑grade final contours could add roughly 60 feet above surrounding grade in some locations to maximize airspace.

Krueger said his firm had seen widely varying permitting times in other projects—citing one project in Odessa that took about four years under TCEQ—and warned that public comment or technical issues could extend timelines. He also noted financial upside if the city chooses to accept more commercial waste streams: “More waste is more revenue for the city,” he said.

Council members asked questions about trench depth, lining, types of waste, and the expected site life; Krueger responded that final depths and permitted waste streams would follow the geotechnical and permitting work and that staff would discuss which special wastes the city wanted to accept.

The presentation closed with Krueger offering to go into more detail as the council requested. No formal council action was taken during the presentation.