City Sues To Force Cleanup

Bannock County is under orders from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to accelerate plans to stop underground water contamination from an old county landfill.

Now Pocatello has sued the county to force it to clean up the contamination, which is moving into the city’s underground water supply.

“There’s a time bomb in the landfill that needs taken care of,” Pocatello Water Superintendent Fred Ostler said.

City Attorney Dean Tranmer said the city sued after “many earnest attempts” to get the county to participate in solving the problem.

In the early 1990s, the county capped an old section of an old landfill south of the city. A new section built during the same time uphill from the old part includes the latest technology, county attorney Guy Price said.

Price said the county is confident that if the solvents that have been showing up in some city wells are coming from the old landfill, they’ll stop appearing with time.

The city and state environmental officials doubt the county has done enough. Ostler said the county declined an earlier offer that the city contribute $250,000 toward further study toward a cooperative cleanup solution.