Eastern Company Wants to Send Garbage West : New Mexico Residents Trash Proposal for Landfill

Like many small New Mexico towns, Lordsburg wants new jobs, tourists and growing businesses.

But promoters never dreamed the hottest development deal here in decades would involve a Manhattan-size landfill that has thrown the town into the debate over the nation’s mounting solid waste problem.

Immense, isolated and sparsely populated, the Hidalgo County desert near Mexico has been chosen by a Maryland company for the commercial landfill. The dump would accommodate up to 20,000 tons of garbage a day from East Coast cities.

The proposal was not exactly a secret. A major construction firm, Driggs Corp. of Capitol Heights, Md., acting locally as Innovative Environmental Systems of New Mexico, had secured property in the area and in January asked the state for a landfill permit.

Local Outcry

But elected officials and their constituents--caught off guard when news of the proposal surfaced--sent a shock wave of opposition that has since reverberated in every New Mexico town and county as well as the Capitol in Santa Fe.

Clark Smith, mayor of this southwestern New Mexico town of 3,200 people, recalls that January morning when he saw a map of his town on the front page of a newspaper:

“There’s Lordsburg on the map right there, and Driggs, and I looked at my wife and said, ‘What is this?’ My phone started ringing, ‘What is this? What is this?’ ”

The 7,300-acre landfill site would sit on 36 square miles now occupied by lizards, snakes, mesquite brush and yucca. The property is neatly and conveniently bisected by Interstate 10 and the busy Southern Pacific Railroad line.

Legislation Introduced

The opposition moved fast, turning trash into a major environmental-political issue in New Mexico and focusing attention on the state’s inadequate landfill regulations and the national quest for suitable landfill space.

When the 1989 Legislature convened in mid-January, a bill was introduced to toughen the landfill law and block commercial dumps. It received overwhelming support.

But the bill was vetoed by Gov. Garrey E. Carruthers, who cited technicalities that he said would have forced the immediate closure of every landfill in the state. But in March, Carruthers issued a moratorium outlawing all new commercial landfills except under special circumstances. The state Environmental Improvement Board adopted new regulations two months later.

Hidalgo County, responding to the public demand, also imposed a landfill moratorium and initiated its first-ever land-use planning effort.

‘Need to Protect Ourselves’

“Now that we are aware . . . that they are looking at deserts for landfills, we need to protect ourselves,” said County Commissioner Maura Rico.

Don Sanchez, Driggs’ director of special projects who was the company’s local representative, and Ralph Golden, executive vice president, refused to be interviewed, citing fears of adverse publicity.

However, Innovative Environmental Systems’ director, I.M. (Ike) Smalley, who retired last year from the state Legislature after 38 years, said Lordsburg residents never waited for a full explanation, leading to misconceptions about the landfill and its potential benefits.

Lordsburg would reap economic benefits, including up to 150 jobs and a $3-million payroll.

Few residents are tempted.

“My first reaction was that no waste disposal operation of this size could possibly be a good thing for the community . . . no matter how many jobs it creates,” said Charlie Hayes, a school administrator and leader of the opposition.