PD Editorial: Garbage in

<p>Sonoma County’s exports include world-famous wine, sophisticated medical equipment and garbage.</p><p>We haul our trash to Novato, Fairfield and elsewhere because the county’s landfill is closed, and public officials say the regulatory obstacles to reopening it are more than the county can handle.</p><p>Their solution: Sell the landfill to a private company that will reopen it.</p><p>County officials are negotiating with a potential buyer and expect to present an offer to the Board of Supervisors this spring.</p><p>But before the board approves a sale, county officials need to make a persuasive case that it’s the best way to get the landfill reopened.</p><p>The Mecham Road landfill closed in September 2005, not because it was full, but because of a leak discovered while planning an expansion. The leak threatened ground water in the surrounding area.</p><p>Since then, some 300,000 tons of trash has been hauled out of the county annually at a cost approaching $15 million a year. That’s 65 tractor-trailer rigs daily, adding traffic to already congested highways while spewing fumes and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.</p><p>It’s not a pretty picture for a county that claims a conservation ethic. We should be able to manage our trash without burdening other communities.</p><p>County officials say a private operator would be better able to address the demands of state water quality regulators, who must be satisfied before the landfill can be reopened. They also say a sale will be contingent on the buyer assuming the expense of eventually closing the landfill, a liability now shared by the county and its nine cities.</p><p>Critics, led by representatives of the dominant local trash hauling and recycling company, question the wisdom of selling the 400-acre landfill and four transfer stations elsewhere.</p><p>If a private company can reopen the landfill and turn a profit, they ask, why can’t the county do it for less? And would a company that benefits from dumping trash have an incentive to undermine the recycling efforts that divert 64 percent of the county’s solid waste from landfills?</p><p>Their questions deserve answers.</p><p>Negotiations on a possible sale are taking place in private, but by law a sales agreement must be made public before it is considered by the board.</p><p>If an agreement is reached, supervisors should resist any pressure for a quick vote. There must be ample time to review the details, opportunities to ask questions and, if necessary, even some renegotiation before any deal is consummated.</p>