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"Elsewhere" Every now and then, the question, "where should we put our garbage?" rears its ugly head.
Landfills are near the top of everyone's list of NIMBY LULU's (Not in My Back Yard / Locally Unwanted Land Uses) that we all would rather have located "Elsewhere"- out of sight and out of
mind. When these kinds of land uses are debated, fierce battles often arise that bring out strong feelings about plots of land to which people have become attached.
Over the years I've seen several of these battles fought over dumps that would have trashed valleys up and down the Coast. 100 years of garbage
Having been in the works for many years, the new landfill was going through the final round of approvals as the clock ticked towards a planned phase-out of the existing dump within three years.
But San Mateo County and the cities involved were stunned when the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Army Corps of Engineers balked at their long-standing plans.
Citing the fact that the existing canyon, Corinda los Trancos, had some 30 years capacity left rather than only the three years claimed by BFI, the Corps refused to grant permits to fill more
than two miles of high quality steelhead spawning stream, and to bury Apanolio Creek under 1200 feet of garbage. The Corps determined that there was a less environmentally
destructive solution - to continue filling the existing, already "trashed' canyon. During this pitched battle, there were headlines about "garbage
piling up in the streets" if the resource agencies did not yield. Of course, these threats were unwarranted. Once the decision was made to expand the landfill site in Corinda los Trancos, the
relevant agencies helped expedite the permits, and today, 11 years later, thanks to increased recycling success, there is at least another 23 years capacity left in San Mateo County's landfill.
Dump in coastal watersheds all wet Our coastal watersheds receive the greatest amount of rainfall locally, and for this reason alone it is preferable to find landfill sites
inland, in the "rain shadow" of the mountains. Of course, it's also not that simple: what is environmentally preferable from the standpoint of coastal resources has economic, energy and air
quality costs in terms of trucking trash to more distant landfill locations. So the debate over the location of garbage dumps becomes a matter of public policy, in addition to being a LULU.
Disposal site near parks trashed Thanks to our On behalf of CGF, I attended this meeting. The room was
packed with people carrying signs and wearing badges protesting various sites. More than 80 people lined up to speak. Where is Elsewhere? "We can do better at recycling." "You should consider new technologies." "There is just no place in Santa Cruz County that is appropriate
for a garbage dump." And repeatedly, "PUT IT ELSEWHERE!" was the clarion cry. After about two hours, the Task Force did just that. Acknowledging that they would never get to hear from everyone,
they voted, after considerable debate, to table all further consideration of Santa Cruz County sites until the county fully evaluated all other options - including composting, recycling,
waste to energy, and yes, trucking their garbage out of county. I'm struck by the concept of Elsewhere. After all, everyone is downwind, downstream of everything else on our planet. And
although we have come a long way in reducing our garbage, we still need to find the most effective and environmentally sound solutions to this ever-present challenge. |
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