Proposed Expansion of Toland Landfill
* The Ventura Regional Sanitation District’s environmental impact report on the proposed expansion of tiny Toland Road Landfill was done by a firm that also oversaw the most sensitive environmental reports regarding the dubious location of the landfill. Genuine concern by both government agencies and the public has been dismissed or glossed over by VRSD legal counsel or the consultant who prepared the $1.3 million in studies.
Many hard questions remain unaddressed by the public agency: conflict of interest (the VRSD will take a hard financial hit without lucrative landfill income, since 80% of its revenues are now threatened with the Bailard Landfill closure) as well as sensitive environmental issues. Trucks would have to idle while awaiting a chance to turn left across a busy highway in close proximity to the schoolhouse. Ground water quality is already poor and the landfill sits atop a feed to the Oxnard aquifer, while a water district voices concern of possible leakage from the existing landfill.
Our county’s wonderful citrus-scape, which represents economic vitality and food for our tables, is now threatened by a variety of expansion impacts, including erosion, smog and dust.
KATHLEEN M. TURNER
Santa Paula
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