Earthworks Industries Inc. (“Company”) is pleased to report that SCS Engineers (“SCS”) has completed the current stage of design, which incorporates an evapotranspiration (“ET”) final cover for the landfill component of the development at Cortina.
The Cortina integrated waste management project (“Project”) is being developed by the Company’s wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Cortina Integrated Waste Management Inc. (CIWM), which has a federally approved lease from the Kletsel Dehe Nation of approximately 443 acres of the Cortina Rancheria in Colusa County, California. The lease specifically includes use of the property for a municipal waste landfill, material recovery facility, composting facility and for soil bioremediation.
In October of 2021, through collaboration encouraged by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CIWM and the Kletsel Environmental Regulatory Authority (KERA) agreed to incorporate the ET cover design for the project that KERA confirmed it would fully support.
SCS has now provided CIWM with the necessary technical evaluation to support the selection of the proposed ET cover, as required for the site-specific flexibility requests (SSFRs) for the Project. The ET cover system proposed is consistent with the requirements of KERA’s Code of Tribal Regulations, and the federal Solid Waste Management Regulations (SWMR).
The incorporation of the ET cover required SCS to update other previously approved SSFRs for the Project to ensure they support the ET cover. SCS has advised us that necessary upgrades were made to these additional SSFRs so that they also meet requisite codes and regulations.
SCS was also tasked to update the Alternate Boundary / Point of Compliance demonstration for the groundwater monitoring SSFR. This was done to provide current information and reflects analyses performed specifically in response to EPA comments. The proposed monitoring is consistent with the requirements of KERA’s Code of Tribal Regulations and SWMR.
Earthworks Industries Inc. will continue to work in collaboration with KERA and EPA bringing the Project to fruition and setting a positive environmental precedent for future developments of its kind. On-going changes in recycling regulations will continue to increase the need for solid waste processing facilities such as Cortina, which is well positioned to adapt to this increasing demand of the market.
Management will continue to ensure completion of all steps on the construction critical path, while implementing an aggressive marketing campaign for the facility.