While the local interest is to close the Chiquita Canyon Landfill due to emissions and odors (it’s a real problem), I struggle to find anyone talking about alternatives to a closure. Where would the ongoing, never-ending supply of trash be diverted, and how much extra will that cost each customer? It’s never less than what we are currently paying.
It is also interesting to note that tens of thousands of new homes are planned along Highway 126 westward to the Ventura County line, all of which is in the area closer to the current landfill. Maybe the county needs to tap the brakes on all of that development until the landfill matter is fully remedied. Why would anyone knowingly build homes closer to an unsolved problem? So what is Plan B for the landfill? It seems that a realistic Plan B — diverting trash to a different landfill — would entail about two years of environmental permitting, and about one to two years of construction of transfer stations and or rail stations to haul this trash elsewhere. Realistically a Plan B might be three to four years away. Just asking some simple questions to a complex problem.
John Dennis
Canyon Country