FARMERS BLAST PLAN TO EXPAND LANDFILL.Byline: Kermit Pattison Daily News Staff Writer Raising the specter that Ventura County's farming industry would be crippled by dust and pollution, farmers and opponents Tuesday blasted a proposal to expand the Toland Road Landfill. About 250 people packed a hearing before the Ventura County Board of Supervisors The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. The Board of Supervisors is the body governing counties in the U.S. on a proposal to boost the daily intake of trash more than tenfold at the dump between Fillmore and Santa Paula Santa Paula (săn`tə pôl`ə), city (1990 pop. 25,062), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Santa Clara River in a fertile valley that yields citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, flowers, nursery products, and walnuts; laid out 1875, inc. . ``This is the last pristine agricultural valley left in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, ,'' said Anita Nelson, whose family farms citrus and avocados near the landfill. ``There are other options for trash, but none for agriculture.'' The Ventura Regional Sanitation District seeks to expand the landfill's trash intake from the current 135 tons per day to 1,500 tons per day. The plan would boost the lifetime capacity of the landfill from 2.5 million tons to 15 million tons over 31 years. VRSD VRSD Verification Requirements and Specification Document VRSD Verification Requirements Standards Document General Manager Edward McCombs called Toland the best option to ensure low rates and local control of trash disposal and avoid the risk of hauling trash to distant dumps. Citing a long list of studies and project conditions, he insisted the project would not harm nearby farms or properties. ``There is no technical basis for the objections raised by project opponents,'' McCombs said. ``They simply do not want this facility . . . in their back yard.'' As testimony from the overflow crowd continued Tuesday evening, the Board of Supervisors had not reached a decision on whether to award the landfill a conditional-use permit for the proposed expansion. The meeting will resume today at 8 a.m. The project has ignited fierce opposition in the Santa Clara River Valley The Santa Clara River Valley is a rural region of eastern Ventura County, California and northwest Los Angeles County, California that is named for the Santa Clara River which winds through the valley before emptying into the Pacific Ocean between the cities of Oxnard and Ventura. . Farmers fear the project would mar the valley's citrus and avocado orchards with dust, traffic, exhaust and groundwater pollution. ``There are fatal flaws in every aspect of this project,'' said Nelson. ``This is not an expansion, it's a new landfill.'' Other opponents branded the expansion as financially risky and accused the VRSD of pushing it en effort of bureaucratic bu·reau·crat n. 1. An official of a bureaucracy. 2. An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure. bu self-preservation. Opponents also insisted the landfill would be unneeded given the availability of other dumps and state laws that require half of all trash to be recycled by the year 2000. ``We do not know what technologies will be available in the future,'' said Fillmore Councilwoman Linda Brewster. ``This landfill could become an expensive dinosaur.'' Officials from the VRSD say the proposal represents the cheapest and easiest destination for west county trash after the closure of the Bailard Landfill in Oxnard this summer. VRSD says the expansion will allow it to slash tipping fees from $33.50 to $18 per ton. Other supporters of the landfill - including city officials from Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , Camarillo, Oxnard, Port Hueneme Port Hueneme (wī'nē`mē), city (1990 pop. 20,319), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; founded 1870, inc. 1948. It has an artificial deep-sea harbor and is the site of a huge naval construction-battalion (Seabee) center. and Ventura - said the expansion would guarantee local control and competitive rates and avoid long-distance hauling to dumps outside the county. ``Toland is the most environmentally correct option,'' said Ventura Councilman Gary Tuttle. ``It's a shorter haul and it's an existing landfill.'' Earlier this month, the Ventura County Planning Commission Noun 1. planning commission - a commission delegated to propose plans for future activities and developments commission, committee - a special group delegated to consider some matter; "a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours" - Milton Berle voted 3-1 to deny the conditional-use permit for the landfill because of concerns about ground water, noise, traffic and dust. But county planners, waste management, air pollution officials refuted most of the concerns. The crowd of about 250 people spilled into the aisles of the Board of Supervisors' meeting room, forcing the fire marshal fire marshal n. 1. The head of a department or office that is charged with the prevention and investigation of fires. 2. A person in charge of firefighting personnel and equipment at an industrial plant. Noun 1. to order some people out of the room. The overflow crowd watched the hearing on a television monitor set up in another room downstairs. |
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