"Elsewhere"
by Lennie Roberts

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
Back in 1993, CGF and other environmental groups successfully fought off a gargantuan landfill proposed in pristine Apanolio Canyon near Half Moon Bay. BFI, the world's second largest garbage company, owned the entire headwaters of this canyon, and was eagerly anticipating creating a mega-site that could accommodate 100 years of garbage.

More than a decade ago, CGF kept Apanolio Canyon from becoming a landfill. While wet coastal canyons are not good places for dumps, finding good places is contentious and complicated.

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
However, this is not a perfect outcome. Generally speaking, it is unwise to locate garbage dumps in areas of high rainfall. The reason is that if rainwater or groundwater gets into the dump, it creates a polluted effluent called "leachate." Despite the installation under the landfill of thick clay liners designed to keep water from seeping out, these liners will eventually crack.

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
Having fended off BFI's Apanolio landfill proposal in San Mateo County, environmentalists were shocked to learn this summer that Santa Cruz County was eyeing two sites near Año Nuevo that would be accessed through highly sensitive park and open space lands. Both sites are heavily forested with redwood and Douglas fir, and zoned for timber production. Both sites would require widening of steep, narrow, unpaved roads, and include sensitive habitats that support several federal and state protected species.

Thanks to our action alert, CGF members wrote letters and emails protesting that these two sites are wholly inappropriate for garbage disposal. In late August, there was a hearing in Watsonville to hear public comment on 30 proposed landfill sites, including the two that we were so concerned about.

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?
As person after person passionately and eloquently spoke, the room erupted in cheers. But there was something unique about this hearing. Rather than simply opposing the dump in their neighborhood, the speakers all asked the Task Force to reject all 30 sites in Santa Cruz County.

"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.