Landfill Distress

I am heartened by the county’s concern regarding the proposed North County landfill sites, but am distressed by the apparent lack of concern regarding the San Marcos Landfill expansion project.

At proposed sites, citizens, water agencies, environmentalists and the Board of Supervisors are eager to find fault on everything from ground-water contamination, potential aqueduct pipeline breakage, aesthetic concerns and health risks to campaign promises. And with good reason. But San Marcos is treated as though it were a “done deal.”

The final environmental impact report for the San Marcos Landfill expansion project clearly shows considerable contamination to both surface and ground water. Copper Creek has tested positive for contamination in the past and flows into the ecologically sensitive San Elijo Lagoon.

An aqueduct pipeline runs immediately adjacent to the San Marcos landfill. Should a breakage occur, a fear expressed by opponents of proposed sites, the resultant contamination would be devastating to both human and wildlife habitat.

Residents are being forced to leave their Elfin Forest homes through the process of condemnation and/or acquisition; others will face devaluation of property as a direct result of the expansion. We face at least another 10 years of the attendant day-to-day aggravations in addition to the possibility of having to live with a belching, stinking trash incinerator, not to mention the sludge plant.

The associated health risks should be obvious. The decision-makers should know better than to be lulled into thinking that if you can’t see it, taste it, feel it, or smell it, then it must not exist.

Supervisor John MacDonald is adamant about keeping his campaign promise of 1986 to a small group of people in the vicinity of Merriam Canyon. Although admirable, is he not a custodian charged with keeping the county’s promise to the residents of Elfin Forest? In exchange for enduring a necessary evil, the reward would come in the form of a park, they said. Instead of packing up and leaving, the county wants to pack it higher and wider.

Lest we be accused of being NIMBYs, we would like to point out that the county has viable alternatives. Among them, we recommend the county wake up to the folly of the incinerator project (Thermo Electron is in default on their contract) and utilize the 16 acres (which are fully permitted and immediately available) to extend the life of the San Marcos landfill 2 1/2 years. This would provide time to site and prepare a new landfill.

We are confident that the Regional Water Quality Control Board (in whose hands the final approval of the expansion lies) will address these concerns with as much vigor as they have exhibited over the other proposed landfill sites. I believe they have the foresight and the courage of their convictions to take a bold step toward initiating a difficult, but equitable solution.

PATRICIA MACK NEWTON, The Elfin Forest Coalition