OXNARD : Judge Denies Landfill Injunction

A Superior Court judge has denied a preliminary injunction sought by owners of the Bailard Landfill in Oxnard to stop the landfill management from accepting household hazardous wastes.

Judge Frederick A. Jones ruled July 22 that granting the injunction against the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, which manages the landfill, would have made the court the regulator of the waste facility.

Jones said that this is “a task which the court is not equipped to perform,” said attorney David Worley, who represents the district.

“The landfill is currently regulated by five different agencies--federal, state and local,” Worley said, calling the judge’s ruling “the only logical result.”

“Those agencies regard us as being in compliance with all laws and regulations,” he said.

The injunction asked the court to force the district to have trash haulers check garbage cans at individual homes, to increase the number of household hazardous waste collection days, and to create a permanent station where people could drop off hazardous materials.

“The owners continue to believe that the landfilling practices of the district are not only illegal, but have the potential for creating such damage to the property that it never will be correctable,” said attorney Michael Cooney, who represents the Bailard family. “We will abide by the judge’s decision and proceed as quickly as possible to trial.”

Worley said the suggestions listed in the injunction would have come at a high cost.

“As stewards of public money, we don’t have the luxury of throwing money at a problem because it gives the appearance of doing something,” Worley said.

The Bailard family’s request for the injunction comes after the district filed a lawsuit against the family in 1990, asking them to contribute $17.5 million to a fund to monitor the landfill after it closes in 1993.

The family filed a countersuit, asking the district to stop accepting household hazardous wastes and to control the release of methane gas and vinyl chloride, a carcinogen that is being found in water samples, Cooney said.

A trial setting conference will be held on Sept. 28, Worley said.