Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I have been providing a septic tank pumping service, dba Geis Honeywagon, for the rural residents of Crook County for nearly 28 years.

In September it was brought to my attention that due to the DEQ regulations adopted by our County Commissioners and the Land Use Planning Office back in 2018, it is no longer lawful to land apply sewage to property without following the strict permitting process laid out by the Department of Environmental Quality.

Since the majority of residents in the county do not have enough acreage to legally land apply their sewage on their own property, the only other option available now is to take it to an approved lagoon. Since neither the City of Sundance nor Hulett will accept sewage from outside of their city limits, the nearest lagoon that will accept Crook County residents’ outside sewage is located in Gillette.

Therefore, due to the added distance that must be traveled, as well as Gillette’s disposal fees, this will pose a substantial increased cost for each customer.

It is possible that residents with larger acreages may have their own sewage land applied on their property, but they must first contact our state DEQ office to request a permit, then the application site must be approved before the pumping or land application can be done.

There is also a worksheet that the landowner must complete and return to the DEQ office withing 15 days of the land application. There are also numerous other DEQ restrictions and requirements that must be followed by the landowner before and after land application, or substantial fines may be incurred.

I am currently working without our County Commissioners in hopes of finding a solution to help resolve this problem for all of the rural Crook County residents. As it now stands, I am currently unable to provide my services to anyone outside of the city limits.

Please know that we are working hard to find an affordable solution for the transportation of sewage to the Gillette Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Sincerely,

James R. Geis

Geis Honeywagon