Pollution Risk Called Minimal at Bailard Site : Environment: A study by the county sanitation district predicts no significant problems if the landfill’s operational permit is extended to 1997.

An environmental report unveiled Monday said there will be no significant pollution problems if the Bailard Landfill between Oxnard and Ventura is allowed to operate until 1997--more than three years longer than now allowed.

A $641,000 environmental impact study into extending the permit of the largest operating landfill in western Ventura County found no problem that cannot be mitigated “below levels of significance,” except for air quality. But county sanitation officials said any landfill would cause air quality problems.

The study released by the Ventura County Regional Sanitation District does not spell out how much those mitigation measures might cost, and sanitation officials said Monday that they do not have an estimate.

Critics contended Monday that the environmental report is flawed and incomplete and that the air-quality impact would be much worse if Bailard continues to operate than the anticipated air-pollution problems that might be caused by the proposed Weldon Canyon Landfill near Ojai. That is because Bailard is nearer to residences, they said.

Bailard is now permitted to operate until December, 1993, but sanitation officials want to extend its permit until May, 1997, to ensure that the county is not without a landfill. Sanitation officials, however, said Bailard could be closed or phased out earlier, as soon as Weldon Canyon becomes operational.

A proposed landfill in Weldon Canyon near Ojai is scheduled to be operational by the end of 1993, but opposition by Ojai residents and environmentalists could push that date back, sanitation officials said.

“The extension permit for Bailard Landfill can be instrumental in providing uninterrupted waste disposal in western Ventura County while a long-term solution is developed,” said Camarillo Councilwoman Charlotte Craven, chairwoman of the regional sanitation district.

The district will receive comments on the study for the next 45 days, then a final document will be drafted incorporating those comments. The sanitation district board is scheduled to vote on certifying a final environmental study in August or September, Bill Chiat, a sanitation district spokesman, said. The study must be certified before Bailard can obtain operating permits from the county and the state.

Sanitation officials said the landfill extension could lead to lower dumping fees because the costs of closing the landfill could be prorated over a longer period of time than if it is shut down in 1993.

But critics on Monday dismissed any economic benefits, focusing on environmental concerns. They said Bailard Landfill is within 2,000 feet of Oxnard residences, whereas the proposed Weldon Canyon landfill would be 4,500 feet from the nearest residence. And a new landfill would pollute less than an old one, they added.

“Bailard is located on top of another landfill that was not properly maintained, operated or closed. Weldon Canyon, on the other hand, would be a new facility with state-of-the-art monitoring systems,” said Patrick Forrest, president of the Channel Islands Community Services District.

Even if sanitation officials adopt all the mitigation measures recommended in the environmental study, the landfill’s expansion would “contribute to continued county non-attainment of state and federal air quality standards,” according to the study.

Also, the extension of Bailard would place an undue burden on Oxnard residents, who have already accepted the bulk of western Ventura County’s trash for several decades, Forrest said.

Gerard W. Kapuscik, vice president of the Channel Islands Community Services District, said he was especially concerned about the possibility of chloride contamination of the Oxnard aquifer, a major water source for the county.

The environmental document acknowledges that vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, has percolated an underground water pool below the Bailard Landfill. Sanitation officials said the underground contamination was caused by poor landfill maintenance before the sanitation district took over Bailard in 1989.

“How can they say there’s no contamination of the Oxnard aquifer when they haven’t tested off-site?” Kapuscik said. “The EIR is incomplete and full of holes.”

Forrest added: “This landfill extension is a stalling tactic to give Ojai residents enough time to find a way to defeat Weldon Canyon. We think people in Oxnard deserve clean air just as much as the people of Ojai.”

The Bailard Landfill expansion has long divided Oxnard-area elected officials. Last year, sanitation district officials scored a narrow victory when the Oxnard City Council voted 3 to 2 to endorse the expansion proposal.

Councilmen Manuel Lopez and Michael Plisky voted against the extension. County Supervisor John K. Flynn has also lobbied hard against the extension. All three have said their main concern is water contamination.

But Mayor Nao Takasugi, Mayor Pro Tem Gerry Furr and Councilwoman Dorothy Maron--Oxnard’s sanitation board representative--supported the extension. They say the western county cannot risk being without a landfill.