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Promontory Landfill is a Class I solid waste landfill located on the southern tip of the Promontory Peninsula near the center of the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Promontory Landfill is permitted as one of the highest capacity solid waste landfills in the United States. Allos Environmental, Inc., Promontory Landfill, LLC, and Promontory Point Resources, LLC, own and operate Promontory Landfilll as a privately owned commercial enterprise which has been authorized by state and local authorities to accept 385 million tons of solid waste for final disposal at it's nearly 2,000 site. When filled to capacity, Promontory Landfill's site could house nearly 770 billion pounds of solid waste.

Location
Promontory Landfill is located in Box Elder County, Utah. The Box Elder County land parcel number associated with Promontory Landfill's main property is 01-012-0160. Promontory Landfill is located on the shores of the Great Salt Lake's northern banks, west of the Bear River Bay and southwest of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. The Refuge is designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Site, which is a globally important shorebird protection area. Along with nearby wetlands areas surrounding the Great Salt Lake, the Refuge provides critical habitat for over 250 species of birds that annually migrate by the millions to the lake to rest and feed in their unique habitat. Promontory Landfill is situated to the east of Gunnison Bay, wherein sits a small island that serves as an important rookery for American white pelicans.

The northern area of Promontory Peninsula features the Golden Rail National Historical Spot, a nationally designated monument which marks the occasion where the Union and Central Pacific Railroads converged on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, creating the nation's first transcontinental railroad.

Located in an area along the Wasatch Front, the landfill is located near the northern most part of the Carrington Fault, which extends northeastward from Carrington Island to merge with the East Fault of the southwest tip of Promontory Point. In late 2016, a group of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Utah Geological Survey, and the University of Utah Seismograph Stations investigated earthquake hazards in Utah as the Working Group on Utah Earthquake Probabilities. According to a report issued by the group, the fault immediately parallel to Promontory Landfill was assessed to have a 6% chance to receive a magnitude 6.75 or above earthquake in the next 50 years. The company's original Class I permit application notes that the Great Salt Lake Fault system is “mapped to extend within approximately 800 feet west of the west edge of the property”.

At an official meeting of the Great Salt Lake Advisory Board in January 2017, an engineer hired by Promontory Landfill stated the landfill site would be as close as 500 feet away from the lake's shoreline. The water level of the Great Salt Lake fluctuates greatly depending on a variety of factors.

Other than a narrow and long county road from west of Corinne, the southern tip of Promontory Point is only widely accessible via the Union Pacific causeway, or possibly Great Salt Lake Minerals' dike. The Union Pacific controlled causeway runs across the center of the Great Salt Lake along the Lucin Cutoff trestle.

Permits
Pursuant to the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Act and Utah Administrative Code R315, respectively, Promontory Landfill holds a Class I solid waste landfill permit that was granted to the company by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (Utah DEQ).

Promontory Landfill applied to Utah DEQ for a Class I permit in August 2008. The Class I permit was granted by Utah DEQ to Promontory Landfill on September 1st, 2011 with the signature of former Utah DEQ Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control Director Scott T. Anderson.

According to state regulatory documents, Promontory Landfill submitted at least two permit modification requests subsequent to its original permit application. Promontory Landfill's current permit document explains:"'Modification #1 was approved on July 16, 2015. This was a minor modification in accordance with UAC R315-311-2(a)(ix) changing the name of the owner and operator from Utah Landfill & Ballast, LLC to Promontory Landfill, LLC. Permit Modification #2 was approved on March 15, 2017. This was a major modification in accordance with UAC R315-3ll-2(l)(d) changing the name of the owner and operator and landfill name from Promontory Landfill, LLC and Promontory Landfill to Promontory Point Resources, LLC and Promontory Point Landfill, respectively. It also included modifications to the landfill design, construction and closure and post-closure cost estimates.'"Promontory Landfill's currently held Class I permit expires at midnight on August 31, 2021.

Early 2000s
In the early 2000s, low revenues and high taxes on nearly 44,000 acres of land owned by two families of northern Utah sheepherders near the tip of Promontory Point led to the two families forming a corporate structure to develop the first incarnation of Promontory Landfill. John and Charles Young created Young Resources Limited Partnership; the Youngs owned at least half the land assigned to the proposed 2,000-acre landfill. Samuel Chournos owned the other half.

In 2001, the Youngs and Chournos entered into an operating agreement with Kerry Zundel, who agreed to manage the effort to pursue a landfill operation at the site. The operating agreement stipulated that Chournos and Young Resources would convey no more than 2,000 acres of property to the project altogether, both would retain water and mineral rights associated with the land, and both would retain the right to return of their property if Promontory Landfill did not successfully develop within five years. Later that year, as "manager of the project", Zundel told local reporters that Promontory Landfill was a "money-making venture" designed to generate profit for the landfill's private owners.

In 2003, the Youngs signed a warranty deed presented by Zundel to transfer land to Promontory Point Land Resources LLC, a company jointly owned by Chournos, Young Resources and Zundel. Court documents state when Young Resources signed off on the deed, the Youngs believed the warranty deed complied with the previous operating agreement. But the conditions concerning return of the land that were originally included in the original operating agreement were not included in the deed. This omission, which allowed Zundel to assume plenary control of the landfill project's ongoing development, would become the focus of a 2016 lawsuit filed by Young Resources Limited Partnership against Promontory Landfill, LLC in Utah district court. According to Utah court records:"'In 2001, Promontory Point Land Resources LLC (PPLR) was formed to develop a landfill in Box Elder County, Utah. As part of this venture, Young Resources Limited Partnership agreed to contribute real property to PPLR to serve as the site of the landfill, subject to certain restrictions. When the property was conveyed to PPLR, however, the warranty deed failed to reflect those restrictions. PPLR then sold the unencumbered property to Promontory Landfill LLC in 2004. Nearly twelve years later, Young Resources brought this lawsuit.'"In 2003, environmental and general engineering construction firm Pacific West, LLC was contracted by Zundel to lead the landfill's permitting and development efforts and was "in the process of getting permits from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and Box Elder County for construction and operation of the landfill." According to Pacific West's corporate website: "Pacific West started business in 1988, when the founder of the Company, Jay Harwood was approached by Union Pacific Railroad (UP) to help provide a solution for the disposal of 30,000 tons of petroleum contaminated soil at UP’s Portola, California rail yard."

By 2003, Promontory Landfill was on track to be developed as "one of the country's largest [landfills]."

Initial Opposition
According to Tooele County Solid Waste Director David Lore, Pacific West had proposed a municipal agreement to dispose of Tooele County's municipal solid waste at the Promontory Landfill site. At that time, even though the landfill "would swell his county's tax coffers," Box Elder County Planner Garth Day told the Deseret News, "We're not even interested in using it."

In May 2003, local opponents formed the Promontory Point Coalition to organize public opposition to the landfill. The Coalition hired a lawyer to stop Promontory Landfill from obtaining a permit from Box Elder County, ; the Coalition was organized in part by Rhonda Boren, chief executive officer of Mineral Resources International, a company which extracted food-grade minerals from Great Salt Lake."'If I could get a perfect world, I'd keep the landfill out.' -- Rhonda Boren, CEO of Mineral Resources International."Another notable Promontory Landfill opponent was the Utah State Golden Spike Board of Trustees, whose chairperson Beth Gurrister told local reporters that allowing the landfill to operate could hurt tourism, wildlife-watching, fishing and hunting. "'We're becoming more aware of the heritage we have here, and let's not jeopardize that.' -- Beth Gurrister, chair of the Box Elder County Tourism Council."Despite notable public opposition to Promontory Landfill, the Box Elder County Planning Commission issued a conditional use permit to Promontory Landfill in 2004.

In April 2004, Zundel legally transferred ownership of the landfill from Promontory Point Land Resources LLC to the newly formed business entity Promontory Landfill, LLC. Court documents contain claims that Zundel took that action absent receiving consent from Chournos and Young Resources.

From 2004 to early 2008, landfill developers failed to persuade any city or county to enter into a contract to dispose of municipal solid waste at the landfill's remote site. Regarding the failure to secure a municipal contract due in large part to the inaccessibility of the landfill site, Harwood told the Salt Lake Tribune: "While some at Union Pacific were open to the idea of using the causeway [to transport solid waste to Promontory Landfill], it was nixed by the transportation decision-makers." Widespread public opposition to the landfill project coupled with Union Pacific's decision to deny rail access to Promontory Landfill had brought the landfill's development to a standstill. Without an agreement with a municipality in place, landfill developers couldn't be certain that constructing Promontory Landfill would generate any revenue; under applicable Utah law, any applicant for a Class I landfill was required to enter into a solid waste disposal contract with a municipality prior to commencing any operations involving the acceptance of solid waste for disposal at a landfill site.

Shoshone Scandal
In 2006, the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation Economic Development Corporation (Shoshone EDC) bought Bolinder Construction, a Tooele-based construction firm that Zundel had made managing member over Promontory Landfill when legal control over the landfill site development at Promontory Landfill.

In May 2008, Shoshone EDC had written a letter of intent to purchase the site along with 2,000 additional acres for the same purpose. That sale later fell through, but a June 2008 letter from the Youngs’ attorney indicated the Youngs were not interested in pursuing Shoshone EDC's offer to purchase and operate Promontory Landfill. On September 8th, 2008, "Promontory Landfill LLC Class I Landfill Permit Application" was hand delivered to the Utah regulators at the Utah DEQ Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste. The application's cover page notes that it was prepared for Pacific West, LLC by Advanced Environmental Engineering, Inc.

Local reports noted that due to its tribal status, Shoshone EDC received special regulatory consideration from the federal government for the approval of federal contracts through the United States Small Business Administration; that Shoshone EDC owned a construction company doing dozens of government projects and an interior design firm specializing in constructing LDS Church temples; and that Shoshone EDC was working on developing multiple biodiesel and geothermal power projects in northern Utah.

By October 2008, Shoshone EDC was leasing lands from multiple private owners for its geothermal projects. Shoshone EDC chief operating officer Michael W. Devine told Indian Country News that Shoshone EDC was exempt from federal income tax while simultaneously being eligible for a federal energy credit program that would give the company financial advantages that would allow for Shoshone EDC to easily finance a variety of energy projects.

By November 2008, Shoshone EDC's publicly stated goal for Promontory Landfill was to turn the landfill into an electricity generating project that would operate as a business entity incorporated under the jurisdiction of a sovereign tribal nation. Shoshone EDC's acquisition of Promontory Landfill's nearly 2,000-acre landfill site was premised on a plan to build a "gasification plant" that would produce electricity for sale to California cities. The Northern Utah Regional Landfill Authority (NURLA), a not-for-profit interlocal entity created by five northern Utah counties to collectively manage municipal solid waste collection and disposal, noted significant concerns about the financial viability of Shoshone EDC's landfill proposal, concerns which were confirmed by a Zions Bank Public Finance economic analysis that ranked Promontory Landfill fifth out of six potential landfill sites in northern Utah based on an analysis of each of the proposed site's annualized cost.

Box Elder County Commissioners also raised additional concerns related to secretive efforts of landfill developers to pressure local officials into agreeing to a municipal solid waste disposal contract with Box Elder County."'I don't think we should move [the Promontory Landfill project] to No. 2 and enter into confidentiality agreements with them just because they're knocking on our door.' -- Box Elder County Commissioner Clark Davis."

Royalty Agreement
On January 27th, 2009, Promontory Landfill LLC and Shoshone Promontory LLC entered into a "ROYALTY AGREEMENT FOR THE SALE OF SAND, GRAVEL (BALLAST) AND PAYMENT OF ROYALTY FOR MATERIAL BROUGHT TO LANDFILL". Under the conditions of the royalty agreement, Shoshone Promontory LLC agreed to pay Promontory Landfill LLC $0.50 "per gross ton for all material/trash (including but not limited to household garbage, industrial trash or by-products, including radioactive material and containers and medical waste) brought onto the landfill as it may be operated by Shoshone or anyone acting by, through or under Shoshone on the Real Property or the Expansion Parcel, if the Expansion Parcel has been acquired by Shoshone on or before January 20, 2010. The agreement also granted Promontory Landfill LLC $0.40 per gross ton of aggregate construction material generated from the landfill site as a result of excavating landfill cells during construction, with that royalty increasing to $0.80 should Shoshone acquire the entirety of an expansion parcel. The term of royalty agreement was for seventy (70) years.

The signature pages of the royalty agreement noted signatures from "SHOSHONE PROMONTORY LLC, a Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation chartered limited liability company, by its Manager, NORTHWESTERN BAND SHOSHONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, a Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation chartered corporation, Signed By Name: Michael W. Devine, Title: Chief Operating Officer" and "PROMONTORY LANDFILL, LLC, a Utah limited liability company, Signed By Jay Harwood, Manager of Pacific West LLC, Manager/Member of Promontory Landfill LLC, Signed By Kerry Zundel, Manager of Promontory Point Land Resources, LLC, Manager/Member of Promontory Landfill LLC."

Without considering any potential royalties accrued from the sale of excavated materials, the companies controlled by Zundel and Harwood stood to collect $0.50 per ton of waste disposed of at the 385 million ton capacity site. Under the terms of the royalty agreement, Zundel and Harwood's companies could potentially collect $192.5 million for up to seventy years solely resulting from Promontory Landfill's waste disposal operations.

During an April 2009 meeting of the Box Elder County Commission, Devine testified that the company planned to create a waste-to-energy plant at Promontory Landfill that could leverage the landfill's 365 million ton permitted waste capacity to turn waste into profit. Devine testified that Promontory Landfill would have enough capacity to dispose of all municipal waste generated communities along the Wasatch Front for the next 100 years. "If it’s a renewable plant, it could last for eternity," said Devine.

On November 21st, 2009, a headline of the Salt Lake Tribune reported: "Northwestern Shoshone suspend executives", "Allegations >> Tribal members claim the COO used funds for extravagent personal purchases." The article explained that the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation Tribal Council, the executive body which oversaw Shoshone EDC, had suspended Devine and other top company executive and Tribal Council member Bruce Parry after a company accountant leveled serious allegations of embezzlement, tax fraud and corporate mismanagement. The Tribune's report noted: "The move [to suspend Devine and Parry] came at the end of an emotional, seven-hour meeting in which Parry's four children, grandchildren and wife of 50 years accused Devine of stealing from the tribe's company and hoodwinking Parry into believing he has the tribe's best interest at heart.

At one point, grandson Blake Ross asked his grandfather whether his loyalty to Devine is worth alienating his family. 'Grandpa ... pick our side, please.'

About 40 tribal members attended the meeting, many of them traveling long distances. 'It makes me sick,' said Sandra Heaton, of Cedar City. 'We started with nothing, and we still have nothing except a few people benefiting.'"

2010s
Following the aftermath of the Shoshone EDC scandal, on March 11th, 2010, legal ownership of Promontory Landfill reverted back to Utah Landfill and Ballast.

Mineral Claims
On November 1st, 2010, a series of five mineral rights placer claims for areas of land on parcel number 01-012-0160 were filed with the Box Elder County Recorder's Office by registered agents of Garry Bolinder, Boone Bolinder, Alyssa Bolinder, Stacey Bolinder, Trecia Bolinder, and Bridger Bolinder. The five placer claims were sequentially titled from LB1 to LB5.

On August 28th, 2014, federal mining records of LB1 through LB5 show a "Transfer of Interest Filed" on each claim; notes on all five claims list "BOLINDER BRIDGER", "BOLINDER TRECIA", "BOLINDER BOONE", "BOLINDER ALYSSA", "BOLINDER STACEY", and "BOLINDER GARRY" as those who transferred their interests to new owners. .

In January 2015, Zundel and Harwood submitted a "Letter of Intent" to the Box Elder County Commission that proposed to sell Promontory Landfill and it's associated financial interests to the County. The Letter specifically stated that the deal would include all interests in LB1 through LB5 and asserted that "these [placer] claims are currently held by certain affiliates of Seller."

On August 17th, 2017, similar records of LB1 through LB5 show a "Transfer of Interest Filed" on each claim; notes on all five claims list "KERRY ZUNDEL", "JAY HARWOOD", "MARIANE HARWOOD", "GILBERT MILLER", "SAM CHOURNOS", "GARY WORKMAN", "MARLA HOWARD", and "VAL S STAKER" as those who transferred their interests to new owners.

Current mining claim records list the interest holders of LB1 through LB5 as "Promotory[sic] Point Resources LLC et al."

Utah business records show that Promontory Point Resources, LLC is registered as a foreign LLC in Delaware. Due to the opaque system of chancery law and corporate friendly statutes of Delaware-based registered corporations, the full extent of those who have a financial interest in Promontory Landfill's development and operation is unclear. "The New York Times quotes the chief executive of a registration agent — a company that registers companies —  as saying Delaware has “the most secret companies in the world and the easiest to form.” A senior researcher at the Tax Justice Network quoted in its piece concurs, calling Delaware “the biggest single source of anonymous corporations in the world.”"

Attempt to Sell
On April 1st, 2011, an advertisement for the sale of Promontory Landfill appeared on the industrial business listing aggregator website BusinessReel.com. The advertisement listed the sellers name as "Utah Landfill and Ballast, LLC". The advertisement read:  "This letter is a notification to all landfill, railroad ballast, aggregate, and alternative energy companies, both nationally, and internationally, of the availability of a very significant permitted property which has a multitude of potential income streams. _Salient Features of Promontory Landfill Permitting * Class I Landfill Permit issued by the State of Utah, Department of Environmental Quality, and Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste. * Box Elder County is an advocate for Promontory Landfill. The county has zoned a particular geographic area of the county (which includes the Promontory site) for the development an doperation of landfills. Accessibility * Accessible by rail with the construction of a spur off the UP Raillroad main line which runes adjacent to the property. * Commercial Truck Access Via the Bear River Inlet to the Great Salt Lake. Revenue Streams: * Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)-consists of 1,000 acre disposal cell surrounded by a 1,000 acre buffer zone with capacity of 364,000,000 tons of MSW. * The Promontory Landfill has a huge advantage over its competitors due to the 398 foot average depth of MSW across its 1,000 acre disposal cell. This is sizably more than any of its competitors resulting in lower operating costs and higher profitability since the most significant cost of landfill developement is the construction of the disposal cell. * Railroad Ballast- Underlying the shallow soils are approximately 600,000,000 tons of calcium carbonate bedrock-which has been tested and determined to meet all of the physical properties(L.A. Abrasion, sodium sulfate soundness, etc..) required for speciality rock products such as main line railroad ballast. *Gravel and Aggregate- Part of the 600,000,000 tons available for all applications. * Alternative Energy- Waste to Energy potential This Property has the potential to be one of the largest municipal solid waste, railroad, ballast, and alternative energy centers in the nation. Facilities: Union Pacific Property has already approved the location of a main line switch for the spur. Rail transportation has the added benefits versus commercial truck transportation due to the safety issues and would be less of a visual impact to the traveling public.

Location Description Property is located in Box Elder County at the extreme south point of Promontory Peninsila. 28 Miles west of the weber county MSW Transfer Station. Close proximity to the Wasatch Front- and yet is remote with little or no competing uses for the land. Stands poised to take its share its share of the 1,892,000 tons of MSW generated along the Wasatch Front each year."

On June 9th, 2014, Utah Landfill and Ballast LLC transferred ownership of Promontory Landfill's site on Box Elder County property parcel 01-012-0160 back to Promontory Landfill LLC.

Class V Landfill Application
A Class V landfill permit allows the receiving company to import waste from any source without any link to a municipal contract, whereas a Class I permit only allows a landfill to dispose of in-state generated municipal solid waste pursuant to a contract entered into with a municipality to dispose of the municipality's solid waste. Class V landfills are required by Utah law to obtain legislative approval before any landfill operations may lawfully commence, due to the statewide impact of a Class V landfill.

In March 2016, the Utah Legislature passed House Joint Resolution 20, which gave official state approval to Promontory Landfill's application for a Class V landfill permit. HJR 20 was sponsored by Representative Lee Perry.

Perry told the Salt Lake Tribune that when he was approached by lobbyists for Promontory Landfill, he did not "recall any discussion of industrial or special waste", and was told that Promontory Landfill would "possibly" accept out-of-state waste. According to an August 20th, 2017 exposé of Promontory Landfill published by the Tribune in partnership with the Utah Investigative Journalism Project:"'Perry then consulted Box Elder County Commissioner Stan Summers, who, according to the lawmaker, said: “This is a good idea to move forward,” and that residents generally supported or didn’t care much about the project.'"Contrary to the claims of Commissioner Summers and Promontory Landfill's lobbyists, local residents had tried to voice their opposition to the landfill to Box Elder County Commissioners by circulating a petition against Promontory Landfill that garnered nearly two hundred signatures of local residents.

Box Elder County Commissioner Jeff Hadfield provided a different view of Promontory Landfill than that of Commissioner Summers. Commissioner Hadfield told the Tribune: "“Landfills can be a real lightning rod. Either people are for it or they’re against it adamantly. [Landfill opponents say] ‘we don’t want to become the landfill capital for the state of Utah,’ and I get that. [But] there’s a lot of money involved with landfills. That’s where it gets tricky.'"Local residents who opposed the landfill were more blunt when asked about Promontory Landfill by the Tribune: “I hate [Promontory Landfill]. Nothing about this landfill makes sense. ... The story changes so many times it’s hard to keep up.” -- Promontory Point resident Kris Udy.

“To bring all that filth and disease and disgust there for money, for $2 per ton of garbage, for [the landfill developers and Box Elder County Commissioners] to destroy this place — it’s pure evil.” -- Box Elder County resident Gabriel Blackhelm.

“It’s bull. We don’t need to bring in garbage from other states.” -- Tremonton resident Angie Nilson.

In an Oct. 16, 2016 meeting of a state economic development panel, Promontory Landfill requested Utah's official authorization to issue $35 million of publicly backed state bonds to pay for costs associated with Promontory Landfill to continue development as a Class V landfill. During that meeting, company President Jon Angin told state regulators that his company hoped to import coal ash to Promontory Landfill from locations “as far away as the Appalachian Mountains.”

And during a January 19th, 2017 public meeting of the Box Elder County Planning Commission, Promontory Landfill spokesperson Brett Snelgrove testified to Planning Commissioners that Promontory Landfill "want[s] to do the right thing and build a permanent landfill. We would like to be able to store some of the waste until there is a use for it, i.e. coal ash."

Local residents and business owners responded to Snelgrove when testifying during the meeting about their interactions with Promontory Landfill's developers. "'I have had the opportunity to sit with these [landfill developers] in front of [Union Pacific] in meetings; to sit with them in our own office; these are gentlemen that have no character and more stories than Dr. Seuss.' -- Mr. Brent Kinley, North Shore Rail Bio-Aonic Resources"In March 2017, Promontory Landfill applied for a Class V landfill permit through the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. According to a “Class V Needs Assessment Report” submitted by Promontory Landfill to Utah state regulators on March 17th, 2017, importing out-of-state coal ash and other controversial streams of industrial waste from out-of-state was a major part of Promontory Landfill's long-term business plan. In addition to coal ash, potential industrial waste streams targeted by Promontory Landfill could include contaminated soils such as that removed from the Golden State Warriors‘ new arena site on old oil-refinery grounds in San Francisco.

When questioned by the Tribune, Promontory Landfill Spokesperson Brett Snelgrove acknowledged that, if approved, Promontory Landifll will be among the nation’s largest industrial waste repositories. But Snelgrove maintains from the beginning of its development, Promontory Landfill has not planned on accepting coal ash."“We’ve looked at [importing coal ash to Promontory Landfill] as a possibility. But at this time we don’t anticipate hauling coal ash.”"When pressed by the Tribune about Promontory Landfill’s focus on coal ash in the company's Class V Needs Assessment submitted to state regulators, Snelgrove responded:"“Just because it shows a need doesn’t mean we have to take it."

Economics of Out-of-State Waste
A 2016 economic report produced by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah revealed highly unfavorable economics underpinning Promontory Landfill's claim of accepting only locally generated waste. “By 2024 an in-state market [for Promontory Point‘s landfill] has a negative cash flow of $56,300 [per year]. By 2031, the negative cash flow is $6,727,700,” the report said. On page 3 of the report under the "Analysis" paragraph, the report explained: "The Gardner Policy Institute analyzed the impacts of the construction and operation of a new solid waste facility in Box Elder County. The results are based on annual employment; compensation; capital, operations, and maintenance expenditures; state income taxes; property taxes; and other local tax data provided by Promontory Point Resources. As such, the validity of the results depends on the accuracy of the inputs. The Gardner Policy Institute did not consider the potential intangible impacts to reputation or community perceptions of a large solid waste facility in the county." The report's final sentences in its concluding paragraph read: "No local or state incentives were included in the calculations and the validity of the results rest on the quality of the input data. Finally, the Gardner Policy Institute did not consider potential intangible impacts to reputation or community perceptions of a large solid waste facility in the county." The dangers of coal ash exposure to people who reside near a coal ash disposal site are well-illustrated by the clearly documented effects of coal ash exposure on workers who were tasked with cleaning up after the Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash slurry spill. The Kingston spill is the largest industrial spill in United States history that occurred on Monday December 22, 2008, when a dike ruptured at a coal ash pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons of coal ash slurry into nearby waterways and contaminating huge areas of adjacent land.

By the summer of 2019, at least 41 coal ash cleanup workers who had dredged the surrounding rivers to clean up coal ash after the Kingston spill were dead. More than 400 of the surviving workers had developed life threatening illnesses, including cancers of the lung, brain, blood and skin and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Frank S. Holleman III, a senior environmental attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who specializes in forcing offending coal ash companies to cleanup their coal ash spills in the southeastern United States, told the Salt Lake Tribune that due to the conditions of the landfill site and the capacity for Promontory Landfill being 11 times bigger than any coal-ash landfill he was aware of, Holleman told the the Tribune:"'It is critical to not only understand the scientific consequences but also the social impact of disposing of gigantic amounts of coal ash and other industrial waste next to any body of water, especially one as iconic as the Great Salt Lake. Once you make a decision like that [to permit Promontory Landfill], you’re gonna live with it for at least a century. Maybe for a millennia. It’s a problem that does not go away.”"In Promontory Landfill's March 2017 application for a Class V landfill permit, landfill developers claimed the landfill site wasn’t located on an “ecologically or scientifically significant” site. In response, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Utah Department of Natural Resources, respectively, issued letters to Promontory Landfill raising potential legal objections to the possible impacts of Promontory Landfill on the millions of birds that depend on Great Salt Lake as a uniquely important habitat. DNR strongly disagreed with the company's Class V assessment in particular, noting that the Great Salt Lake “remains one of the important natural areas on the North American continent.”

On February 6th, 2018, FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake, Utah Sierra Club, HEALUtah, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Utah Rivers Council, Utah Audubon Council, Utah Airboat Association, Utah Waterfowl Association, Great Salt Lake Alliance, GSL Audubon, Western Resource Advocates, South Shore Wetlands & Wildlife Management, Inc., League of Women Voters of Salt Lake, National Audubon Society, residents and business owners from Box Elder County, and the Great Salt Lake Institute and Weber State University, hosted a public forum "to discuss Promontory Point Resources, LLC Landfill and its application with the State Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control for a Class V waste permit — a permit specifically designed to accept waste from out of state." The collective group explained the reason for their opposition to Promontory Landfill's Class V landfill application:"'A Class V permit would allow the company to receive California Hazardous waste, which that state defines as “waste with a chemical composition or other properties that make it capable of causing illness, death, or some other harm to humans and other life forms.” Waste would also include coal ash from throughout the West and Midwest. Coal Ash, or as Utah calls it Coal Combustion Residual, is the by-product of burning coal to generate electricity and, depending on where the coal is mined, can contain an array of dangerous toxicants. These include arsenic, lead, mercury, antimony and boron. The landfill would also be able to accept special wastes and small quantity generator hazardous wastes, such as low-level infectious waste, heavy metals, solvents and a variety of organic compounds like PCB’s.'"More than 100 people attended the public forum on the campus of Weber State University. Many voiced their concerns about Promontory Landfill's permit application and ongoing development to Solid Waste Program Manager Allan Moore, Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control.

By mid-February 2018, a significant cross-section of local residents and Utahns statewide had voiced their strong opposition to the ongoing development and permitting of Promontory Landfill. Lynn de Fritas, Executive Director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake, told a KUTV reporter: “How can we justify endangering one of the state’s most precious icons and risking the $1.3 billion annually that the Lake generates for the people of Utah so a few folks can make money storing out-of-state waste that nobody else wants?" In response to growing public concerns, Promontory Landfill spokesperson Brett Snelgrove told KUTV: “We are a business, and businesses are here to make money and so there is money to be made, but more importantly we can do it and take care of it and make sure to monitor the waste correctly." -- Promontory Landfill spokesperson Brett Snelgrove.

Proposed Withdrawal of Legislative Authorization
In 2019, the Utah Legislature considered revoking legislative approval of Promontory Landfill's Class V permit. Representative Casey Snider proposed House Joint Resolution 23, a legislative action that would strip legislative approval of Class V authorization from the Promontory Landfill's stalled Class V landfill application that was also pending final regulatory approval from state regulators at DEQ. In a March 5th, 2019 interview with KVNU Radio, Rep. Snider explained: "The whole point from my perspective, is what we did two years ago: the Legislature approved, signed off on, a Class V landfill at the end of Promontory Point. Procedurally, it's one of the checks that has to happen in a process for a Class V landfill to take place. But what has happened in the intervening two years is you had the operator of the landfill actually withdraw their application, and now you have the state legislature approving an applicant for which there is no application. Nor is there any sort of final ruling from the Department of Environmental Quality. So my position is regardless of whether its a good site or a poor one, we should not be carte blanche approving something without:

A) the environmental review, which is a necessary prerequisite; and B) we shouldn't approve an application for which there is no applicant." A public hearing over HJR 23 was conducted by the House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee on March 1st, 2019. During the hearing, a variety of community organizations, nearby business owners, and other advocates who opposed the landfill spoke in strong support of the resolution to stop the harms caused by a Class V landfill on Promontory Point; Promontory Landfill executives and Box Elder County Commissioners also spoke during the public hearing about allowing free markets to dictate business operations and the positive economic benefit to Box Elder County while opposing the resolution. After a lengthy hearing, the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee voted in favor of HJR 23 on a 6-3 vote with four committee members abstaining from voting on the measure, which resulted in the Committee transmitting "a favorable recommendation on H.J.R. 23, JOINT RESOLUTION WITHDRAWING APPROVAL FOR CLASS V LANDFILL, by Representative C. Snider" to Speaker of Utah House of Representatives for further debate and legislative consideration.

On March 5th, 2019, the Utah House of Representatives passed HJR 23 on a 54-17 vote, with 4 members abstaining. The next day, on March 6th, 2019, HJR 23 was sent to the Utah Senate for concurrent approval, as required in Utah's bicameral legislative process. Between March 7th and March 14th 2019, the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee considered the House's passage of HJR 23 and took various legislative actions to move HJR 23 between the two Senate committees, respectively. Finally, on March 14th, 2019, legislative records indicate the Senate took action to "strike [the] enacting clause" of HJR 23, effectively killing the bill altogether. The same day, the Clerk of the House received notification from the Senate Secretary of those actions, and the Clerk of the House filed HJR 23 to the "House file for bills not passed."

Friends of Great Salt Lake Lawsuit
On December 4th, 2019, Box Elder County Commissioners approved a waste disposal contract with Promontory Landfill giving the County legal authority to use Allos’ Promontory Point landfill if an emergency prevents use of the county’s Little Mountain landfill. Friends of Great Salt Lake responded by filing a petition with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality in March 2020, arguing the contract isn’t valid and requesting that it be administratively reviewed.

Aside from questioning the validity of the contract, Friends of Great Salt Lake also contends that Box Elder County commissioners didn’t follow proper procedure in advertising the commission meeting of December 4, 2019, wherein the deal with Promontory Landfill was finalized. The potential contract, the group said, wasn’t listed on the agenda published ahead of the meeting and the issue generated no debate or public input.

“Subsequent to the meeting, the public agenda for the meeting was amended to include the Box Elder Alleged Contract... However, the revised agenda was not signed by the county clerk. The agenda published on the Box Elder County website does not reference the contract issue,” reads the Friends of Great Salt Lake petition.

On July 20th, 2020, Administrative Law Judge Lucy B. Jenkins issued a preliminary ruling in Friends of Great Salt Lake's administrative challenge to Promontory Landfill's Groundwater Permit change. While there are several procedural points addressed in the order, Judge Jenkins primarily ruled that Promontory Landfill was not entitled to summary judgment and Friends could pursue its claims through complete briefing and argument. The Division’s claims, which were more procedural, were granted. Promontory Landfill will now be required to brief and argue the claims in a future hearing.

Financial Troubles
In early February, 2020, three different vendors claimed Promontory Landfill owed $115,000 in past-due payments. On February 19th, 2020, local construction company Whitaker Construction filed a $119,362 lien against Promontory Landfill for unpaid construction services at the landfill's site, which caused ongoing construction at the site to be halted in November 2019.

On March 25th, 2020, Promontory Landfill failed to make a $16.3 million bond payment on “Box Elder County, Utah Senior Secured Tax-Exempt Solid Waste Disposal Revenue Bonds (Promontory Point Resources, LLC Project) Series 2017A”. The company had previously failed to make a payment just one month prior.

Box Elder County Commissioner Jeff Scott blamed Promontory Landfill's financial woes on a down market caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to Commissioner Scott's claim, Promontory Landfill's deep financial stress occurred well before the pandemic struck -- the first reported COVID-19 death in the United States was on February 29th, and President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on March 13.

Local Opposition
On September 2nd, 2020, Box Elder County Commissioners denied a proposal from the manager/operator of Weber County's construction and demolition landfill manager/operator Randy Moulding to rezone 225 acres of property in the Hansel Valley for a Class I landfill that would accept solid waste from Wasatch Front communities located south of Box Elder County. Box Elder County Commissioner Stan Summers told the Tremonton Leader, “When it comes to the need, excluding any other landfill, our landfill is good for our residents for another 100-plus years or 200-plus years.” Commissioner Jeff Hadfield told the Leader, “I view [Promontory Landfill] as an active, viable business that was actively permitted.”

Box Elder County helped Promontory Landfill secure state Private Activity Bond funds, local Box Elder County tax-free bonds to improve the rural access road to Promontory Landfill's site, and spoke on behalf of Promontory Landfill before state regulators. Moulding told the Leader that his landfill meets the same regulatory criteria as Promontory Landfill. "“I have just as much right to have a landfill as they do,” [Moulding] said. “I feel discriminated against.”"