ARDMORE, OK -- Federal regulations have led to a decline in the number of landfills operating across Oklahoma, and it's only getting harder to operate under economic pressures. Tom Johnson explains what that means for Texomans.

1993 was a year for sweeping environmental mandates, requiring many protective measures that municipal sanitation services say they simply cannot afford.

We only see them once a week, but sanitation and disposal is an everyday job that must be done. Since the passing of the Environmental Protection Act of 1993, landfills have been disappearing from the Oklahoma landscape.

Nearly 100 landfills were closed within the first few years. Ardmore's Municipal Landfill that was opened in 1980 began serving all of southern Oklahoma in 1993.

"The size of Ardmore's intake wasn't that big, so it became necessary to keep servicing other cities in the area to keep the landfill open," says SORD executive director Troy Duke.

Many towns have privatized their sanitation to keep the service, but it doesn't make it easier. Landfills cannot be within or near seismographic or airport areas, and the combined cost of the environmental devices surpassed 100,000 per acre to build.

Small towns simply couldn't keep up.

"To develop an acre that might have lasted them five or six years, they would have had to have rates of $70-$80 a ton."

The regulations increase per square mile consumed by a single site, so as the trash rises, so too do the costs.