North County Landfill

The Los Angeles Times’ decision to take an editorial position to support siting a new North County landfill is commendable (“Planners’ Rejection of N. County Landfill Sites Is Far Too Hasty,” Sept. 9).

When the San Diego County Planning Commission voted last month to reject the three proposed landfills in North County, two of the commissioners criticized Waste Management, the company that wants to build a landfill at Gregory Canyon.

As a board member of the Economic Development Corp., I was invited to tour Waste Management’s Simi Valley landfill earlier this summer. I was amazed to see that the landfill was as clean and modern as they claimed it to be. The company does not refer to its landfills as “dumps,” and I could see why. The area of open, exposed trash was minimal and surprisingly, there weren’t any birds or rats.

Understandably, the ground water issue is causing the most concern. I agree that our water is important and needs to be protected. And because of this, I believe that a private company that specializes in landfills and has won awards for its expertise should be the agency running the landfill.

The county cannot afford to spend the money to build a landfill properly, and cannot afford to maintain it. We, as taxpayers would pay the price--literally.

Waste Management’s reputation (and wallet) would be at stake should anything happen. The county government’s future, however, would not be on the line. It would not be liable in this partnership. It would serve solely as watchdog.

I would hope that the Board of Supervisors carefully considers the cost factors as well as the experience of a private company and ignores the Planning Commission’s vote.

ROBERT WATKINS

San Diego