Sonoma supervisors move closer to selling county landfill

Mindful that sale of the Mecham Road landfill depends on Sonoma County cities committing their trash for the next 20 years, county supervisors decided Wednesday to start pitching the proposal immediately.

They said that securing approval of long-term trash flow from the cities to a reopened landfill operated by an Arizona company will be crucial.

That conclusion came after a three-hour public workshop on details of the proposed landfill sale to Republic Services of Phoenix, Ariz. In exchange for about $2.7 million in royalties, the company, the second largest waste processor in the U.S., proposes to operate the landfill along with its transfer stations and assume responsibility for the environmental cleanup at the site west of Cotati.

Another hearing on the proposed sale is scheduled for Aug. 25.

?One side of me says let?s get going, but there is a lot information for the city councils to digest on this proposal,? said county Supervisor Mike Kerns, whose south county district includes the central landfill. ?It completely depends on the cities.?

Council members from Santa Rosa, Windsor and Healdsburg attended the briefing, but said they had too many unresolved questions to take a position.

?This seems really tempting based on what Republic is offering,? said Windsor councilwoman Debora Fudge. ?But the makeup of waste, such as a decline in packaging, is going to change. We need a 50-year vision, not a 20-year contract.?

Healdsburg councilman Mike McGuire said he liked that Republic?s proposal would remove from roadways about 65 daily truck runs to East Bay and Solano County dumps which now accept Sonoma County?s trash. But, he said he was troubled that Republic?s proposal lacked evidence it was committed to ?sustainable practices? such as reducing levels of trash while encouraging recycling, composting and reuse of construction materials.

Republic?s president for Northern California operations, Michael Caprio, said his company has experience in navigating state solid waste permits, having undertaken similar ventures in San Diego and Stockton. It operates seven landfills in Northern California.

Currently, the central landfill and several transfer stations serve all residents in Sonoma County except in Petaluma. When the state Water Quality Control Board ordered the landfill closed or cleaned up in 2004, Petaluma decided it could obtain better tipping rates with Waste Management, which operates the Redwood Landfill in northern Marin County.

Caprio said the company already has conducted ?preliminary discussions? with state regulators on an application to reopen the landfill.

?We are fairly certain that we will need a double composite liner,? said Caprio, referring to a leakage prevention covering around the dump that county officials estimated would cost $70 million.

At the moment, residents pay an average $25.68 a month for pick-up of of a 32-gallon trash can. If all cities except Petaluma commit their trash to a Republic-operated facility, the cost would rise only 5 cents a month, according to an analysis by the Transportation and Public Works Department.

Wednesday?s workshop on the landfill proposal attracted about 100 people, including about 15 who raised questions about details contained in the package.

Attorney and former congressman Doug Bosco urged supervisors to give serious consideration to retaining the landfill and using Northwest Pacific freight lines to haul trash out of county.

?Using the railroad to transport solid waste has not been explored as it should be,? Bosco said.

Brant Arthur, representing the Climate Protection Campaign, criticized the proposal, saying it ?will favor burying Sonoma County?s trash instead of recycling it.? He said the proposed deal deserves credit for unloading the county?s liability for clean-up costs, but faulted it for failing to set standards for diverting waste out of the garbage dump.

Public works director Phil Demery defended the proposal, saying promoting recycling is in the best interests of Republic because it would prolong the life of the landfill.

?The preservation of the landfill as long as possible?benefits Republic,? Demery said. ?We are comfortable with that because they have the technical resources to pull it off.?

Under questioning from Supervisor Efren Carrillo, Demery acknowledged that the proposal does not contain a prohibition on Republic?s ability to accept out-of-county trash.

He also conceded that Sonoma Compost, the company that currently operates the composting concession at the landfill, would likely be forced out because ?Republic is fully capable of providing composting.?