Here is some additional reading on the planned sale of Central Landfill and its consequences.
The Bohemian, 09/09/09
By Juliane Poirier – The Green Zone, Talkin’ Trash – www.bohemian.com/bohemian/09.09.09/greenzone-0936.html
Snip>>Why should anyone stop Sonoma County supervisors from selling a smelly dump for a few fragrant million in garbage royalties? Because the sale removes policy control from citizens and sells it to a corporation. I asked sustainability consultant Ken Wells, who managed Sonoma County’s integrated waste from 1992 to 2008, to explain the sale of Mecham Road landfill and its satellite drop-off points to Republic Services of Phoenix, an Arizona-based company. Turns out this proposed deal, up for a vote on Sept. 29, is a stinker. <Snip — Visit web site for remainder of the article.
Sierra Club Needles: Landfill Divestiture, 08/09
http://redwood.sierraclub.org/articles/August_09/Aug2009.pdf
Snip>>Our quest continues to re-open the Sonoma County Land Fill facility that was closed by actions of the Water Quality Control Board in 2005. The county has been considering sale of the property to private entities on the theory that they might have more clout in getting the land-fill re-opened, but this step has major environmental risks. We are participating in the CEQA study of waste management alternatives. end <<Snip
KRCB, 03/30/09
http://www.krcb.org/bruce/596-the-landfills-future
Leadership Institute For Ecology and the Economy, 03/30/09
http://www.ecoleader.org/event2009-landfill.html
Relevant documents as well as the presentations from the March 30 Landfill Forum.
Large turnout in Santa Rosa for garbage fight, 04/01/09
Questions over public meeting rules have opponents crying foul
http://www.sonomawest.com/articles/2009/04/02/sonomawest/news/doc49d3d1d241bc5125604715.prt
Snip>>SANTA ROSA — Key players in Sonoma County’s garbage hauling industry clashed this week over ongoing closed-door talks to sell the county’s landfill operations to a private contractor.
The issue of recycling rather than continuing to bury garbage in a landfill is now “the largest public policy question on our watch,” said recycling advocate Alan Strachan at the garbage forum held Monday in Santa Rosa.
If waste disposal methods were being planned from scratch today, “There’s no way we would think about buying 400 acres of land” on which to bury millions of tons of trash, said Strachan, regarding the county’s effort to sell its 400-acre county dump that is now closed to commercial use.
Strachan and about a dozen other industry participants attended Monday’s forum to address county plans to sell its landfill operations to a private garbage conglomerate such as Waste Management Inc., the largest garbage company in the U.S.
Strachan represents the North Bay Corporation, which owns trash hauling companies serving most of Sonoma County. North Bay has plans to build a state-of-the-art Santa Rosa material recycling facility next year that is seen as a competitor to the county’s effort to turn over landfill operations to a private company.
A key to a successful divestiture deal is a long-term commitment by Sonoma County’s cities and the county to send their trash to the landfill’s new owner. <Snip — Visit web site for remainder of the article.