EIR for Trash-Burning Plant Fails to Satisfy Opponents’ Objections

Another environmental impact report on a controversial trash-to-energy plant proposed for San Marcos was unveiled Thursday, and it immediately drew critics who say the builders of the plant have failed to resolve any complaints concerning the project.

The EIR cited the same environmental concerns raised previously: traffic, pollution and chemical emissions from the $217-million plant. The developer said those issues can be resolved.

Opponents, however, said the plant, which will burn trash to generate electricity, will haunt the community by causing pollution, thereby endangering the environment.

“The (environmental) questions are not being addressed. They never have been addressed,” said Jonathan Wiltshire, president of Citizens for Healthy Air in San Marcos.

Ordered by Court

Earlier this year, the new EIR was ordered by the state 4th District Court of Appeal after San Marcos decided that an EIR was unnecessary when the city’s General Plan was amended to allow construction of the plant. The plant site lies next to an existing county landfill on Questhaven Road, and an EIR was issued years earlier by the city to address the possible impacts of the landfill. The city argued against the necessity of another EIR, saying that it was not changing the use of land but only the technology on it.

Critics of the plan sued the city, saying that the trash-burning power plant deserved the attention of a full-fledged environmental impact report. The courts agreed, thereby nullifying a previously issued special-use permit allowing the construction of the project as approved by the city.

The EIR issued Thursday addressed environmental concerns connected with amending the General Plan to allow for construction of the plant.

Richard Chase, managing director of North County Resource Recovery Associates, a private company that was formed to build and operate the trash plant, said the EIR held no surprises and was essentially a duplicate of an EIR previously prepared to address the construction of the plant itself.

“The only significant change is the financial impact,” Chase said.

Revenue Projections

He projected that beginning in 1990 the city will receive more than $900,000 a year in tax revenue from the plant. The original projection was $350,000 beginning in 1990.

The EIR is now in a 45-day public review period.

But reaction to the report has come in quickly.

Wiltshire said the toxins caused by the burning of trash would harm North County communities. He added that the trash plant would cause countless traffic problems.

Chase disputed both points.

“Traffic (in San Marcos) won’t change because we are there,” said Chase, adding that potential health risks of contracting an illness generated by plant pollution are “less than one in a million.”