Environmental Coalition sues county
Redwood Landfill expansion permit process, EIR called into question
By Paul Jones
Over a month after the California Integrated Waste Management Board approved the issuance of a permit for the expansion of the Redwood Landfill’s capacity, a coalition of environmental groups is suing Marin County. The lawsuit claims the county failed to adequately address the environmental impact of the future expansion in its EIR, violated its own countywide plan’s requirement for “zero waste,” and refused to hear an appeal of the expansion before the county's Local Enforcement Agency forwarded a draft of the permit to the waste management board.That appeal was dropped on Dec. 18, 2008 by the group, the “Green Coalition for Responsible Waste and Resource Management,” after the waste management board directed the Local Enforcement Agency to issue the approved permit to the landfill Dec. 16. The agency is headed by Phil Smith, also of the Marin Community Development Agency, Environmental Health Services division.At the time, coalition leaders indicated they would try to address their ongoing environmental concerns ��“which include claims that the structural integrity of the landfill will prove inadequate to survive a flood or earthquake, and complaints about the volume of “greenhouse” gases it produces��“ by having the county reopen its original land-use permit for the landfill so that mitigation requirements could be added, to be met by Redwood Landfill-owner Waste Management Inc.“The land-use permit (for the landfill), it’s 50 years old, single use ��- and they’re converting it to a multiple-use facility,” said coalition member Bruce Baum in December. “We have a letter from one of the top land-use attorneys in California that says you can open (the original permit).”Jessica Jones of the Redwood Landfill denied that future plans for the landfill amount to it becoming a “multiple-use” facility. The landfill, located at 8950 Redwood Highway, is currently allowed to store 19 million cubic yards of trash, a volume which Jones said will be sufficient for approximately seven more years. It is pursuing expansion of its capacity to 25 million cubic yards. However, its expansion plans also include installing a methane-powered electrical generation system.The coalition’s the new lawsuit, officially filed Jan. 16, picks up after its dropped appeal, and alleges the county should have allowed the group to be heard by the Marin County Board of Supervisors before the Local Enforcement Agency’s permit was sent to the California Integrated Waste Management Board.The lawsuit alleges that “the County and its agencies tasked with preparing and certifying an Environmental Impact Report violated the California Environmental Quality Act by ��- failing to adequately address the dump’s negative impact on (the environment) as well as (the landfill’s) seismic stability and its fragile levees,” according to a press release put out by the coalition. It also alleges that “the county approved the expansion without the Board of Supervisors hearing an appeal made by local residents or finding that the expansion was consistent with (County’s policy goal for) the zero waste.”In the release, members of the coalition were quoted as highly critical of the county’s actions. Though the Redwood Landfill is mentioned in the lawsuit, the group is not suing the business.“At the end of a long review process, the County swept the environmental risks and consequences under the rug,” said Christopher Gilkerson, Director of NoWetlands Landfill Expansion. “We tried to work with Marin County for almost five years ��- Neither the County nor WMI did enough to address our concerns, so sometimes the watchdog has to bite.”Previously, the coalition successfully pressured the Local Enforcement Agency to hold a second public hearing for its draft of the waste management board permit after a meeting Sept. 15, 2008.The Redwood Landfill is in the process of pursuing permits from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, to allow and regulate its expansion.
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