Pine Hill Landfill Research

The City of Longview does not operate it's own landfill. The Pine Hill Landfill is operated by Republic Services and is located South of Longview near the intersection of Hwy 31 and FM 1252. Republic Services 800-678-7274.

opened landfill has a capcity at current rates for 92 years. largest capacity in East texas,

It has caught the eye of the environmental social justice people. They are just studying it now.

A local article in 2012 expressed concern about unrecycled waste
Trash from unincorporated areas in Gregg and six other counties also reaches its final destination at Pinehill.

TCEQ data:

PINE HILL LANDFILL GREGG A 1

capacity  used in 2004,  208,805 tons in 2004
Tons per year capacity  2239 

Open capacity  17,134,949

total capacity    19,182,575 


Longview paper- today

The Pine Hill Landfill takes in 1,100 tons of trash a day, and — thanks to a new renewable energy facility on site — food scraps, paper and other organic materials no longer will go to waste after they decompose into methane gas.

The plant can generate enough energy from methane gas to heat 4,800 homes a year, according to Luke Morrow, owner of Morrow Renewables of Midland, which operates the plant at the landfill owned by Republic Services.

However, the facility does not provide energy for the Longview area.

The plant, which resembles a utility company substation, compresses methane gas, Morrow said. More than 100 extraction wells at the 240-acre landfill off Industrial Boulevard near Kilgore take the gas to the plant, which, in turn, connects the gas to an off-site pipeline that operates like an interstate highway.

The renewable energy plant is the 46th of its kind in the United States and the seventh in Texas, said David Cox, director of operations and general counsel for the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas in Sacramento, California.

"It's over here in a matter of seconds" from the wells, Morrow said before a dedication ceremony Tuesday morning. "It goes fast through the process. The gas that the landfill makes today, we will sell it today."

The plant can generate 404.7 million cubic feet of renewable natural gas a year, according to Morrow and Republic officials. Citing the Environmental Protection Agency, Morrow said that is the equivalent to the amount of emissions from 22 million gallons of gasoline.

The gas reaches markets as far away as California, said Republic Services General Manager James Murphy, whose company manages the landfill on leased property.

Republic Services, a recycling and solid-waste disposal company in Phoenix, has a relationship with Morrow Renewables going back eight years to opening of a similar waste-energy plant at the Greenwood Landfill in Tyler.

Morrow said his company signed contracts with Republic in December to operate the facility.

"Republic is basically our landlord," he said. "They are our partner, too. We share in the work, and we share in the revenue."

Morrow, Republic officials and civic leaders heralded the plant Tuesday at a ceremony that drew more than 60 people.

"This is a special day for our company," said Brian Martz, director of renewable energy development for Republic Services in Phoenix. "We believe in the preservation of a blue planet."

Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt drew laughs when he quipped, "If you notice the smell in the area, that is money."

The plant will improve the quality of life here while serving markets in the West Coast and beyond, said state Rep. Jay Dean, R-Longview.

Cox and Morrow said the numbers in Texas place the state ahead of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Longview location also is Morrow's fifth such plant in the state.

The plant contains three towers, two-tank shaped vessels and an incinerator that handle compounds extracted from the methane.

An adjoining structure sucks gas from the landfill and delivers it to the plant through a 12-inch pipe, Plant Manager Patrick Mobley said.

The plant captures more than 97 percent of the methane, Morrow said.

He said the plant operates 24 hours a day and has four permanent employees.

"And we have swing crews that work several of our sites. They swing through whenever we add wells or whenever we do work at the plant," he said.