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Waste Management reports lower overall tons, RNG plant and pipeline work underway at Punder Ridge landfill
Summary
Waste Management presented its first-quarter 2025 report to the Gilliam County Court, reporting March host fees of $424,004.66, year-to-date host fees of about $1.2 million, lower overall tons year-over-year, ongoing RNG plant construction and pipeline easement negotiations, and a ChemWaste receipt of non-nuclear materials from Hanford.
Gilliam County Court — Waste Management told the Gilliam County Court on April 16 that volumes into its Punder Ridge landfill are down year-over-year but the company continues several large construction and operational projects, including building a renewable natural gas (RNG) plant and preparing a pipeline easement program.
The county heard the report from Paul Wilson, a Waste Management representative, who said volumes for March were 79,441 tons and that, through February, year-to-date tons were 566,644. He told the court host fees paid to Gilliam County in March were $424,004.66 and that host fees for the quarter to date were about $1,200,000.
Why it matters: host fees are a primary local revenue stream tied to landfill throughput, and changes in tonnage can affect county revenue and local hiring. County officials asked questions about tonnage drivers and the status of ongoing contract and construction work.
In his presentation, Wilson said the RNG plant construction is progressing and that the company plans a startup in the fourth quarter of 2025. He also reported the RNG pipeline work is moving forward but said some property easement agreements with landowners remain under negotiation and that pipeline activity is expected to begin in the third quarter.
Wilson told the court that the landfill has recorded four OSHA recordable incidents so far this year — two in fleet and two in operations — and that construction of a soil cell (described in the packet as “cell 17”) is underway and will require moving about 1.2 million cubic yards of material, with an additional million cubic yards expected to complete the project by year end.
The presentation also noted that ChemWaste has started receiving non‑nuclear glass cylinders and effluent water from the Hanford site as part of a roughly 750,000‑gallon project. Wilson said the material “is all non, there’s no nuclear stuff and had nothing was touched by anything before” and described on‑site settling and treatment prior to landfill disposal.
County officials pressed for details about why some categories of waste were down. Wilson said municipal solid waste (MSW) tons and soils/special waste tons are down year‑over‑year in some sources, and that consolidation or diversion by a large CDL generator had reduced CDL (construction/demolition/landscape) tons by about 30 percent from one company that began sending material elsewhere. He said the company expects some tonnage increases later in the year as regional soil projects resume.
Wilson said the company is recruiting for several positions and has not yet filled an environmental manager role; he listed Jim Denson as the area director contact in the packet.
County Judge (name not specified) and other commissioners requested a follow‑up site visit and ongoing updates, and Wilson said he would coordinate a tour once staff returned from vacation.
Ending: The court asked for further information on tonnage trends and the status of easement negotiations as the county tracks revenue and project milestones tied to the landfill and RNG construction.
