DUMP GETS FINAL OK TO EXPAND : NEIGHBORS CONTINUE PROTEST AGAINST TOLAND SITE'S GROWTH.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

The operators of Toland Road Landfill plan to increase daily dumping in late August after gaining final approval from the California Integrated Waste Management Board, but opponents continue working to block the expansion.

The state board approved a solid waste facilities permit for the Ventura Regional Sanitation District at a meeting in Ukiah on Tuesday. Sanitation district officials now will negotiate trash hauling contracts for west Ventura County, said Sue Smith, the district's spokeswoman.

``We're drawing up the hauler agreements and we're meeting with the cities,'' she said Wednesday. ``We think we know who will be coming. Those decisions now have to be made by the cities and the haulers. It was never a sure thing before (Monday).''

The sanitation district, which is a public agency, plans to increase the amount of trash that can be dumped at the landfill each day from the current 135 tons to 1,500 tons per day beginning Aug. 26. The lifetime capacity of the landfill will grow from 2.5 million tons to 15 million tons over 31 years.

Toland Road Landfill opened in 1970 to serve Fillmore, Santa Paula and the unincorporated county. With the expansion, it would replace Bailard Landfill as the west county's main trash dump. Bailard is scheduled to close Aug. 24.

Opponents, who spoke at the state waste board hearing, have not backed off and hope to delay the expansion.

``It is not over. It's not even close to being over,'' said Roger Campbell, mayor of Fillmore.

Opposition to the landfill expansion is centered in the Santa Clara River Valley, where residents and farmers fear the larger dump would foul the rural area with truck traffic, noise, dust and pollution of air and groundwater.

Those concerns failed to block approvals by the county Board of Supervisors, the state Regional Water Quality Control Board and the state waste board.

Three opposition groups have filed separate lawsuits that each target the project's environmental impact report. The report concludes the expansion may be the best alternative for trash disposal in the west county. The study found the proposed expansion would cause fewer or similar environmental problems than other alternatives, such as shipping the trash to Simi Valley or out of state by rail.

Opponents also are challenging the water quality board's decision to approve a conditional permit that notes an active earthquake fault could run near the landfill site.

A geologist for a group of landfill opponents recently described the possible existence of an active earthquake fault. The new report by Robert Yeats of Oregon State University prompted the regional water quality board to issue a permit that prohibits trash disposal within 200 feet of the fault until further study is done.

``We have this specific thing that we have to go after. It changes the whole scope of the project, because now you've got two landfills instead of one and you've got all sorts of drainage problems,'' Campbell explained.

``Water quality is the concern. We're talking about the water for this valley. We're talking about the life blood,'' he said.

Sanitation district officials remain optimistic that the project has cleared its final hurdle.

``We feel like we've got a good project,'' Smith said. ``We are confident that there will be nothing to keep the expansion from going forward.''