Santa Paula Trash Wars

* How in the world can a group of so-called educated men and women run for office and get elected on the promise that they will represent the will of the people?

Well, the will of the people is well documented and proven beyond any reasonable doubt. We do not need, want or desire to be the receptacle to trash that other communities cannot be responsible for.

Every public meeting has shown that we the citizens of Santa Paula do not want trash from other cities. Please solve your own trash problems.

JESS VICTORIA

Santa Paula

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Trash, and by extension landfills, are unpleasant. In an ideal world, we as humans would not generate trash, or an ideal location that doesn’t inconvenience anyone would be available. At the present time, however, we need landfills to do the job. With the closing of the Bailard Landfill in July, the west county must find another place to put its trash.

Of the options available, expanding the Toland Road Landfill is by far the best. The proposed Weldon landfill was exposed for the scam it is by the Ventura voters during the March election, and trucking our trash to Simi would cause a greater environmental impact, cost nearly double the amount of Toland, and not provide any control or accountability to the people of Ventura County. Out-of-county options such as Calabasas or Chiquita pose similar problems.

The Toland Road Landfill has been studied and researched extensively. Opponents contend that the impacts of the expansion are unacceptable to the agricultural region, but the Environmental Impact Report shows that the impact of not expanding the landfill would be worse due to the limited options available.

It is up to the Board of Supervisors to make the tough decisions and to recognize that expanding the landfill would be worse due to the limited options available.

JIM MUNDAY

Camarillo

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There are serious problems associated with the expansion of the Toland landfill. At the top of the list is this question: Has the landfill been leaking toxins deep into the ground for 26 years? Since the wells that could monitor this situation are inadequate, that question cannot be answered.

For those of us who travel Highway 126 everyday (the only route to the Toland landfill), traffic safety is a major consideration. This is a busy highway with traffic increasing every day. The Toland Road turn is nearly opposite the Little Red School. Picture this configuration and you see the potential for disaster.

It is incredible that we think that the role of government is to compete with private enterprise. Common sense tells me that if the government says it will charge a lesser amount than private industry, its for sure they have the other hand in the taxpayers’ purse.

MARY SHORE

Santa Paula

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Re: The Toland landfill project.

Why would the farming community object now, when the landfill has been there for 25 years? They need to remember that agriculture also causes pollution problems. Dust and pesticides are a constant reminder of modern agriculture. Perhaps we should just pave the orchards to control air pollution.

The money being spent to oppose the Toland expansion could be better spent on other projects, like helping the homeless, improving roads and schools, medical care for the needy, courts, police officers and youth clubs.

LINDA LLOYD

Santa Paula

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Your May 11 article about the Toland Road Landfill, “Confidence in Landfill Remains,� includes a statement by Ed McCombs, general manager of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District: “He (McCombs) noted that the district plans to take a number of steps to guard against dust, such as watering down landfill surfaces as well as paving and vacuuming roads in and around the dump.�

In the past week your paper has been full of new information that has been developed regarding particulate-related illnesses and deaths in America. One death count number is 64,000 a year. These particulates are in the “lung damaging range,� 5 microns to 0.5 microns. The particulates become part of the air and are not seen by the naked eye.

These recent findings impact two proposed large dust-producing projects, within 1.2 miles of one another, between Santa Paula and Fillmore: the Ventura Regional Sanitation District’s expanded Toland Road Landfill and S.P. Milling’s Sycamore Ranch Rock Mine. These projects have operating lives of 31 years. Both projects rely on water sprays in air to suppress dust. The Environmental Impact Reports for both contain implications that water spray in air is “the state of the art,� and an effective mitigating measure to remove dust from the air.

The facts are quite different. Gravity water spraying is not effective for removing particulates in the “lung damaging range.� In evaluating these projects, the county permitting agencies should please take notice of the facts and recent particulate lung damage findings, despite Mr. McCombs statement.

CLARENCE N. FREEMAN

Fillmore