Officials from the Waste Management Authority came to a scheduled hearing in District Court four days ahead of a critical deadline on a federal consent decree. Sept. 30 is the day when experts said one of the territory’s two landfills would reach capacity.
But for the third time this year, the head of Waste Management was absent from the courtroom. When District Court Judge Curtis Gomez asked a witness why WMA’s interim Director Adrian Taylor was not present, he got a startling answer.
The Anguilla Landfill – the subject of the Wednesday hearing – caught fire overnight. Taylor told lawyers representing his agency and the Justice Department he was headed to St. Croix to oversee an emergency response.
Assistant Attorney General Pamela Tepper said she received a message to that effect a half an hour before the hearing began at 9 a.m.. Because landfill management is the director’s expertise, she told the court, Taylor took action.
That’s understandable, the judge said. At the same time Gomez asked, did Waste Management have a second in command?
That was the question posed to WMA Staff Engineer Alex Bruney on the witness stand. He said he heard so at a staff reorganization meeting held Tuesday. But the official he named, Ann Hanley, did not appear in court either. Gomez noted how unusual that was, since Hanely typically showed up for scheduled evidentiary hearings.
Tepper offered one explanation, saying Hanely was a wastewater specialist, not so much with solid waste and landfill management. Even if she did appear in court on Wednesday, Tepper said Hanley probably did not have much relevant information to share.
“Who has knowledge about what is going on, besides Mr. Taylor?” the judge asked. It was Bruney, Tepper said.
From there, the judge’s remarks became pointed. The conduct of WMA officials in court was taking on a pattern. In March, on the morning of a scheduled consent decree hearing, an announcement was made about the departure of WMA Director Roger Merritt III. Interim Director Tawana Albany-Nicholas showed up in his place.
Albany-Nicholas testified in March and again at a hearing in July. But by the time a status hearing took place earlier in September, the court found out a few hours ahead of time that Albany-Nicholas had also left her post. Taylor showed up instead.
“Given the changing heads in this organization, it occurs to me that there must be someone else who can provide complete information besides Mr. Taylor,” Gomez said.
Given the looming deadline of Sunday, specific steps were supposed to occur.
“According to the consent decree, the landfill is supposed to reach capacity, and as I understand it, there’s an airport issue. The (Federal Aviation Administration) says there’s a bird issue,” the judge said.
Deterrent devices were supposed to be installed to discourage scavenger birds from descending on Anguilla, a short distance from the Henry Rohlsen Airport.
A letter was supposed to be presented to the Port Authority, which manages the airport, and an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture was supposed to be stationed near the landfill to monitor bird activity.
Bruney was asked if, in his estimate, Anguilla Landfill had reached capacity. The engineer said landfill workers had figured out a way to move materials around and create enough space to let operations continue for another year and a half.
Gomez asked if the two federal agencies needed to approve any change of plan at the landfill had done so, the agency attorney said to his understanding, yes.
A VIPA staff attorney had been in touch with the FAA and required paperwork had been submitted, attorney Robert Goldsmith said.
An inquiry to EPA Region 2 after the Wednesday hearing received no response by Wednesday evening.
The judge said an additional hearing was in order.
“With a fire at Anguilla, it seems to me that with or without the head of the agency here, we should be able to have a discussion here about that,” Gomez said.
One of the questions expected to come up when that hearing takes place in the next two weeks is whether the fire was related to combustion of landfill gases.
A spokesman for the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency said the landfill fire was brought under control by Wednesday morning. Spokesman Garry Greene described it as a small to medium blaze.
