Board to Weigh Disposal Sites

To dispose of hazardous waste produced in Orange County into the next century, city and county officials have identified 19 possible areas for waste treatment plants in a draft report to be considered today by the Board of Supervisors.

Areas cited in the report include Irvine, Anaheim, Santa Ana, the City of Orange, Gypsum Canyon, Silverado Canyon and the Saddleback Valley.

The report will form the basis for public hearings and further study in the next several months, as the county outlines plans to dispose of hazardous waste after new state and federal restrictions banning dumping of untreated waste take effect in 1990.

Supervisors are expected to approve the preliminary draft today and forward it to the state Department of Health Services this month. With the ban approaching, the state has required all counties to develop such a plan for disposal of hazardous wastes.

But the public hearing process, and results of more detailed studies, are what are expected to result in a final plan, due next September. That final outline will provide the most detailed analysis to date of the amounts and types of hazardous waste generated in the county and its needs for treatment plants and disposal sites, county officials said.

“We’re still trying to decide where the hazardous materials are being generated and where it is best to put facilities that will take care of our hazardous materials,” said Paul Carey, an aide to Supervisor Thomas F. Riley. “The public may still change the criteria, and that may change the study areas.”

About 28% of the county’s 111,269 tons of hazardous waste is dumped untreated at landfills, the report said. Much of it now is hauled out of the county.

County and city officials are still trying to define which of the several types of waste processing facilities--liquid-waste treatment plants, waste transfer stations and incinerators, among others--are most needed. County and city officials are also participating in a regional and state plan aimed at defining which facilities can be shared for disposing of hazardous waste.

Under a previous “fair share” plan, Orange County was asked to find sites for up to two hazardous-waste transfer stations, a liquid-waste treatment plant and a small incinerator. That “fair share” plan is expected to be updated in the next few months.

County officials emphasized that the 19 areas being considered for hazardous-waste facilities may never be chosen.

The areas include: in Irvine at the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways; in Anaheim near Placentia; in Santa Ana, near the intersection of the San Diego and Costa Mesa freeways; in Anaheim near the intersection of the Orange and Santa Ana freeways; in Orange near the Santa Ana River; in the Gypsum Canyon area; in the Silverado Canyon area, and in the Saddleback Valley.

Exact locations have not been precisely defined, however, pending further discussion and studies, county planner Barbara Shelton said. She said areas selected had to be at least 2,000 feet from residential areas and not near earthquake faults, state or regional parks or military installations.

There are 30 more state criteria that each site would have to meet before it could be considered acceptable for a waste facility. Even then, the areas would be identified only as possible sites, and a developer would still have to apply for permits and submit detailed plans for review.