Regulations History
The Commonwealth of Virginia promulgated solid waste regulations in 1988. In October 1993, the federal Subtitle D regulations took effect, requiring all operational landfills to meet specific design requirements, including having a liner and leachate collection system. Local governments were concerned about the high capital costs of closing existing landfills and constructing Subtitle D-compliant facilities within the timeframe set by federal regulations. In response, the General Assembly passed HB1205, a law which allowed existing, unlined landfills to continue operating within the current footprint until attaining 3:1 slopes.
Our Decades-Long Project History
2000: HB1205 Landfill Closure Regulations
In 2000, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) was tasked with overseeing the closure of 36 HB1205 landfills—including Louisa County’s SWP 194. With a closure deadline of December 2020, the VDEQ ranked the landfills based on risks to human health and the environment to determine the closure schedule. SWP 194 was scheduled to cease operations by December 31, 2012.
2004-2010: HB1205 SWP194 Operations Consulting
Following a 2004 decision to privatize the operation of the SWP 194 landfill, LaBella assisted the County in evaluating the operator’s compliance with the Virginia Solid Waste Management Regulations and compaction efficiency. In 2009, LaBella performed volume and remaining life analysis for the landfill and prepared a fill sequencing plan which would improve and maintain operations until its sunset date of December 31, 2012. We also conducted a limits-of-waste delineation, finding several areas of excessive cover soil, which were reclaimed, resulting in approximately 11 months of airspace gained. In 2010, Louisa County reclaimed the operation of its landfill.
2010-2025: SWP 567 Permitting, Design, & Construction
LaBella led the design and permitting of the Subtitle D landfill SWP 567 with the permit issued by the VDEQ in February 2012. LaBella developed construction documents and performed construction quality assurance (CQA) services for Cells 1 through 3. Cell 1 was constructed in 2012 and—to minimize construction costs—Cells 2 and 3 were constructed simultaneously in 2018.
To maximize the capacity of the SWP 567 landfill, LaBella prepared the Part A and Part B applications for the piggyback expansion onto the eastern slope of the SWP 194 landfill and western slope of the SWP 567 landfill. This 2025 expansion permitting increased the life of the facility by over 50 years, providing the County with a secure solid waste program for its citizens for years to come.
2011-2015: SWP 194 Closure
On August 23, 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit Louisa County with the epicenter just five miles from Mineral, VA. The amount of demolition debris caused by the earthquake was extensive. The HB1205 SWP 194 landfill was only permitted to accept waste until December 2012. While the new, Subtitle D SWP 567 landfill would be constructed by this date, the construction debris was not appropriate material for the fluff layer required as the first 10 feet of waste in new cells. LaBella effectively negotiated with the VDEQ to allow Louisa County to keep the SWP 194 landfill operational until all debris was disposed of.
LaBella led Louisa County through the closure process for the unlined SWP 194 landfill, providing design, permitting, construction phase, and CQA services for the closure using Closure Turf®. Read more about the project here.
Compliance & Remediation
LaBella has performed compliance groundwater and landfill gas monitoring and reporting at the closed SWP 194 landfill since 1995 and the active SWP 567 landfill since its construction in 2012. We also manage the facilities’ Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) permitting, monitoring, and reporting.
At the SWP 194 landfill, LaBella performed Nature and Extent Studies, Risk Assessments, and prepared an Assessment of Corrective Measures and a Corrective Action Plan to address groundwater impacts at the Louisa County Sanitary Landfill. We are currently implementing monitored natural attenuation as the remedy and preparing the Corrective Action Site Evaluation (CASE) Reports that demonstrate the effectiveness of the remedy. Throughout our tenure, we have reduced costs through allowable regulatory mechanisms including Alternate Source Demonstrations, removal of analytical parameters and methods, and reduction in the corrective monitoring network. Due to the slow groundwater flow, we successfully reduced the frequency of the CASE Report from every three years to every five years.
At the SWP 567 landfill, we completed the background monitoring for groundwater wells for Cells 1 through 3. We also prevented the facility from entering the Assessment Monitoring Program due to an elevated concentration of cobalt. LaBella has also prepared Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) and Spill, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans.
