ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Proposal for Landfill Closure Questioned

The Orange County Waste Commission, an advisory board to the Integrated Waste Management Department, raised questions Wednesday about a plan to close the Frank Bowerman landfill in Irvine, suggesting the move could raise trash-hauling prices.

The commission is scheduled to discuss the future of the Irvine landfill at a meeting today, as well as a proposal to generate new revenue by importing as much as 5,000 tons of trash a day from outside the county.

County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy suggested earlier this week that the landfill be closed as a cost-saving measure. The proposal is scheduled to be discussed by the Board of Supervisors over the next few weeks.

Members of the Waste Commission said closing the landfill presents several drawbacks.

The landfill is centrally located in the county, making it a convenient drop-off point for trash haulers, they said. Some said that closing Bowerman will force haulers to drive greater distances to dump their loads, probably at county landfills in San Juan Capistrano or Brea.

“This is going to have a significant impact on us,” said Stan Tkaczyk, vice president of Rainbow Disposal in Huntington Beach and a member of the commission. “This has been like a shock wave going off and we are trying to determine the impact.”

Tkaczyk said his firm’s trucks--which haul commercial trash from Huntington Beach and surrounding cities--will be forced to add an hour to their commute times if Bowerman closes.

“This is money out of our pocket and in turn, we will have to look to our customers to help us defray the costs,” said Tkaczyk. “This might not be a tax increase, but it could turn out to be a service cost increase.”

Others have also questioned the logic of closing one of California’s most nearly state-of-the-art landfills, the only one in the county completely lined with plastic to prevent waste from leaking into the ground.

The landfill, near El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, is the county’s newest. Opened in 1990, it can hold more than 100 million cubic yards of trash and was designed to comply with stringent federal, state and local regulations.

Phil Sansone, a former Newport Beach councilman and the Waste Commission chairman, said a recent management analysis found that the county’s landfills were being operated in an efficient manner.

The landfills have been money-makers for the county, generating $12 million a year above their operating costs. Much of the money remains with the Integrated Waste Management Department, but Sansone said he was concerned that the cuts might be part of an effort by the county to use the surplus for other county departments in the wake of the bankruptcy.

“I’d like to know more background on why they want to close it,” said Sansone.

Irvine City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. said he plans to bring up the future of Bowerman at a coming meeting with Popejoy.

“It’s something we are looking at,” Brady said. “We are looking at county assets in and around the city.”

Brady said he would want to determine if the county has any interest in trading the landfill to Irvine or a group of cities as a way of repaying some of the money the agencies have frozen in the county’s collapsed investment pool.

He noted that the landfill would be a good investment because it generates revenue.

The commission is also expected to discuss possible worker layoffs and a plan to allow trash to be imported from other counties as a money-making venture.

Officials from San Juan Capistrano said they are strongly opposed to importing trash, fearing it will clog city streets leading to the South County landfill.