The City of Lubbock released bid documents for the cleanup of a site along Interstate 27 near the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. Bids are due on Thursday, but there’s a chance the city will never accept the bids.
The city does not know how much it will cost to clean up, and the bids should help nail down an estimated cost. From there, the city would turn to the state legislature.
The city’s 2017 list of legislative issues includes this item: “Create TCEQ funding stream to pay for failed permitted recycling centers around the state.”
The city’s legislative agenda also said, “Lubbock’s I-27 site is by far the largest. [We] have been working in the interim [since the 2015 legislative session] on both funding and access to the facility.”
The site is outside the city limits, but it has created issues for the city and the airport in the past. Huge fires in 2002 and 2009 lifted plumes of thick black smoke up over the airport – reducing visibility.
Even when it’s not on fire, city officials believe it’s an eyesore for people flying into and out of Lubbock.
But without help from the legislature, the cleanup might not happen. The city hired two lobbying firms – High Plains Research and Hance Scarborough, LLP – for not only this issue but many issues in the 2017 legislative session.
The property is 170 acres, and debris covers an estimated 125 acres. The estimated volume of waste is approximately 786,580 cubic yards.
The city’s bid documents described the mess like this:
The waste at the site includes but is not limited to: concrete, concrete with small rebar, concrete with large rebar, wood shingles, asphalt shingles, asbestos shingles, rocks, bricks, construction and demolition debris, clay tiles, used tires, used tires with rims, 1 large abandoned house (main floor appears to be 2,600 sq. ft), 1 small abandoned house-like structure (falling down). 1 trailer storage building (at property entrance), 1 stop building with crane, polypropylene and steel drums (some empty, others containing unknown materials (10 to 15 drums estimated), used furniture, wood pallets, scrap iron, and trees.
