OXNARD : Landfill Seeks to Buy Pollution Credits

The agency operating the Bailard Landfill near Oxnard will ask its directors Thursday to approve the purchase of $63,455 in pollution credits from Unocal so that the landfill can stay open.

Landfill managers must secure the credits to comply with a permit allowing them to continue operating the dump until May 30, 1997, Imelda Cragin said.

Unocal in Fillmore offered the best price for pollution credits out of 11 companies surveyed, said Cragin, environmental manager for the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, the landfill’s operator.

Organizations such as the sanitation district must buy pollution credits when they are unable to keep emissions at a level acceptable to the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District. Companies gain the credits when they reduce air pollution below county standards at their facilities.

Cragin said the contract will cover the three-year period that Bailard is allowed to remain open. “It’s a one-time buy,” she said.

Cragin said that despite the need to buy credits, the landfill will not pose a threat to nearby farmers or residents of a Roman Catholic convent.

An attorney for the Sister Servants of Mary Convent, on Victoria Avenue across the street from the landfill, said he will not protest the contract. Stan Cohen said the sisters are scheduled to have a daylong mediation session Friday with sanitation district attorneys to settle their complaint about health dangers from pollution.

“We are trying to work out a solution to avoid everybody declaring nuclear war and starting litigation,” Cohen said. “What the sisters desire is that their property be protected from dust and pollutants.”