Earlier this year, Commissioner John Amsler had described the landfill as "dead" though at the time the proponent, Green Group Holdings LLC, was exploring ways to still bring the project to reality.

On Tuesday, the firm filed the first two parts of an application for construction of the Pintail Landfill with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, agency spokeswoman Andrea Morrow confirmed.

The portions submitted deal with whether the land can be used for waste disposal. They will be reviewed to decide whether the application can go forward, Morrow wrote in an email.

It's the latest wrinkle in a year's long fight over the landfill proposed north of Hempstead off Texas 6 in Waller County - a site about 50 miles northwest of downtown Houston.