Landfill Defense

The Ventura Regional Sanitation District (VRSD), which operates the Bailard Landfill, would like to respond to Jovanna Kingkade’s letter of Dec. 14. Since we all are responsible for creating the garbage that makes a landfill necessary, it is vital that the public is involved, concerned and well informed about landfill issues.

The Bailard Extension Environmental Impact Report thoroughly researched and documented all of the concerns listed in Ms. Kingkade’s letter: air emissions/odors, ground water quality, dust, aesthetics, and alternatives, as well as 21 additional environmental topics. This comprehensive report, which found “no significant environmental reason not to extend Bailard’s operations,” was reviewed by all regulatory agencies, including the Air Pollution Control District and the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), and circulated for public comment. On Sept. 27, the RWQCB renewed Bailard’s Waste Discharge Requirements, having found no reason to be concerned with the site’s ground water quality. In fact, the water from 31 wells at and surrounding Bailard is tested at depths ranging from 20 to 200 feet, and show that there has never been any landfill contaminant detected in the Oxnard Aquifer under the Oxnard Plain.

Environmental information on Bailard is a matter of public record, and we urge concerned citizens such as Ms. Kingkade to review it, and take a tour of the landfill with an open mind and a discerning nose. Most odor complaints are traced not to the landfill, an easy scapegoat, but to adjacent agricultural activities such as chicken manure fertilizer and harvesting of odorous row crops, the mushroom farm, or one of three nearby sewage treatment plants. Furthermore, any odors at night, as referred to in Ms. Kingkade’s letter, are definitely not attributable to the landfill, as there is no exposed garbage after 5 p.m., and there is no nighttime venting of gas.

VRSD is pursuing the extension of Bailard because it is a safely operating landfill with available capacity. Bailard’s Environmental Impact Report finds no significant environmental reason not to continue operations. Additionally, the western watershed has no other economically and environmentally viable option available for waste disposal at this time. Economically, Bailard operations support Oxnard’s and the regional economy in purchases, services and jobs of over $18 million a year. It would be a public and environmental disservice to close Bailard with no alternative in place. Simply put, extending Bailard is the only logical course of action.

To receive a summary of Bailard’s final environmental impact report, for more information, a presentation or landfill tour, please call the Ventura Regional Sanitation District at 658-4630. We want to hear your concerns and provide the facts regarding our operations.

CLINTON L. WHITNEY

Ventura

Clinton Whitney is general manager of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District. *

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