WELDON CANYON : Release of Landfill Report Is Expected

A report that spells out the environmental consequences of building a landfill at Weldon Canyon is expected to be released in mid- to late December, officials said.

The environmental impact report, which has been postponed half a dozen times since its originally scheduled release in April, is now in the last stages of review at the Air Pollution Control District, said William Mount, chief of planning for the district.

“The analyses that were done on this project were just incredible in the level of detail, the depth of analysis and the health risk assessments,” Mount said.

Mount said the most recent delay was prompted by the evaluation of health risks to nearby residents from the escape of methane and other toxic gases.

James Jevens, project manager for Waste Management of North America, which holds the lease to the Weldon Canyon property, said he believes the $1-million report on the project has been exhaustive.

“Now it’s just better to get the thing out to the public for their review and comment,” said Jevens, whose firm footed the bill.

Weldon Canyon, a working ranch about three miles north of Ventura at Canada Larga Road east of the Ojai Freeway, was chosen as the best site for a new landfill in the county’s Solid Waste Management Plan of 1985. Neighboring Hammond Canyon was picked as the second choice.

Waste Management won the lease on the property when Regional Sanitation District, the county’s public agency that manages the Bailard landfill in Oxnard, was unable to sign a contract with Shel Bonsall, who owns the land.

Bailard landfill will run out of room in 1993, according to county permits. Residents of northern Ventura and Ojai oppose the Weldon Canyon site for a new landfill because they say it would bring heavy truck traffic to the already crowded freeway, increase air pollution and release toxic chemicals into the air.