N. County Cities Drop Suits Against Trash Plant : Environment: Move paves the way for low-interest bond funding on an alternative recycling plant, which special interest groups vow to oppose.

Three North County cities dropped lawsuits that had ensnarled a now-abandoned plan to build a trash-to-energy plant in San Marcos during a brief hearing Friday in Vista Superior Court.

The court action came after city councils in Carlsbad and Encinitas agreed earlier this week to the cease-fire in legal attacks on the county’s plans to build a power-generating incinerator in collaboration with a private East Coast firm.

Oceanside City Council members voted to drop the lawsuits but refused to approve an agreement signed by the other cities that supports construction of a major trash recycling center on the site next to the county landfill in San Marcos.

Escondido’s council delayed a vote on the issue until next week but is expected to go along with the other cities in dropping out of the lawsuits.

Mike Hogan, attorney for Christward Ministries and two citizens groups--North County Concerned Citizens and Citizens for Healthy Air in San Marcos--said the groups dropped out of settlement negotiations and “will continue the fight.”

Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Johnson set a Nov. 18 date for trial by the remaining litigants, all of whom oppose the trash plant and the recycling plant because of the pollution and traffic they will attract to the rural area. Christward operates the Questhaven Retreat a short distance from the landfill and proposed trash plant site.

“There will be a decided change in the complexion of the lawsuit without the involvement of cities representing a majority of the citizens of North County,” said Vince Biondo, Carlsbad city attorney.

Hogan said he filed yet another lawsuit Thursday on behalf of his three clients. The new suit challenges the legality of the recycling plant, he said.

Negotiations have been going on for several weeks in an attempt to clear away legal challenges to the trash-to-energy plant and recycling plant before proponents go before the state Pollution Control Financing Authority on Nov. 20 to seek low-interest bond funding for the recycling facility.

County supervisors voted in August to drop their plans to contract with Boston-based Thermo Electron Inc. to build and operate a trash-to-energy plant, but North County cities did not agree to drop their lawsuits until supervisors pledged to cancel all permits and agreements involving the proposed incinerator.

The settlement approved Friday assures that the trash-to-energy plant cannot be revived any time in the foreseeable future, Biondo said.