Dive summary:

• The Sunrise Landfill in Nevada has completed its transformation process: now, it's a beautiful landscape unrecognizable from its past life as a landfill.
• The landfill officially closed in 1995; three years later, a rainstorm and a crack in the landfill cap were responsible for trash being disseminated into nearby waterways.
• After years of studies, planning, court battles and construction, the new facility's landscaping is keeping buried waste secure.

From the article:

Steps initially taken to close and secure the landfill were insufficient, and on Tuesday, more than a decade later, officials unveiled the $36 million worth of work undertaken to prevent incidents like the one in 1998.

The Bureau of Land Management, which owns the land, the Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations were studying Sunrise before the 1998 storm, suspecting the site was not stable. They found the cap used to cover the landfill when it was closed was cracked. One fissure ran for 100 feet across the top of the landfill cover.

A BLM consultant measured explosive levels of methane, a common gas produced in landfills, and hydrogen sulfide, a gas with a rotten-egg odor. Sen. Harry Reid and other politicians toured the site a decade ago, covering their mouths and noses to block the eye-watering stench. ...