PD Editorial: Garbage in

<p>Sonoma County is on the verge of letting an Arizona company do its dirty work. And, if it all comes together, it wouldn’t be such a bad deal for the region.</p><p>Under a proposed deal released last week — and to be discussed at a Board of Supervisors workshop Wednesday — Republic Services of Phoenix would buy and operate the county’s central landfill on Mecham Road. In exchange, the county would receive royalties equal to an estimated $2.7 million a year. Of more importance, Republic would take responsibility for working with the state to reopen and expand the landfill. Republic also would commit to making up to $9.5 million in facility improvements to address outstanding environmental issues.</p><p>This would be a significant accomplishment as the landfill has been closed to direct disposal for nearly four years since questions were raised about the quality of ground water collected beneath its lining. Although there’s never been any evidence of contaminated ground water having left the landfill, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board has prohibited further expansion of the facility.</p><p>The unfortunate result is that Sonoma County since then has been exporting most of its garbage by truck to places as far away as the East Bay and Solano County — an environmentally degrading outcome for a county that takes pride in being green.</p><p>Under this deal, Republic would accept full responsibility for environmental problems associated with the landfill. That is with one exception: The county, the contracting cities and Republic would share in the cost of cleanup if off-site contamination from the landfill surfaces over the next 10 years.</p><p>All in all, this would not be a bad deal for Sonoma County, which gets the two things it needs most: reopening of the landfill and relinquishing of liability.</p><p>If money and politics were not an issue, the preferred outcome would be for the county to hold on to this asset and work through the environmental issues on its own. But tighter regulations on landfills and water quality require a level of expertise and an investment of time and resources that the county no longer has. The economic downturn — and resulting reduction in local revenue — only convince us more that a private company may succeed where public agencies have failed.</p><p>But this deal remains a house of cards. In order for it to work, all Sonoma County cities, excluding perhaps Petaluma, would need to commit to sending their garbage to the central landfill for the next 20 years. They also would have to come to terms on an agreement for sharing in the liability of any off-site contamination over the next 10 years. Given the politics and hard feelings that exist among some local government officials, this won’t be an easy chore. But it’s worth pursuing.</p><p>This is especially true if it ends the embarrassing and costly practice of Sonoma County trucking its garbage to other areas.</p>