Title
Body
MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Lars Ewing, Public Services Director
DATE: November 14, 2017
SUBJECT: Consideration of potential use of Eastlake Landfill as a final disposal location for debris generated from the 2017 wildfires located outside of Lake County
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Public Services staff has been contacted by Environmental and Chemical Consulting, Inc. (ECC), the contractor tasked by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the cleanup operations in both Lake and Mendocino County, as well as the Mendocino County Environmental Health Department and private contract haulers, about the possibility of the Eastlake Landfill in Clearlake being used as a final disposal location for fire debris generated from both the public and private fire debris cleanup operations. While the Eastlake Landfill is equipped to accept the fire debris from the Sulphur Fire in Lake County, and additionally prepared to ramp up operations to handle debris from the fires located outside of Lake County, accepting fire debris from outside of Lake County does bring with it certain risks.
The Eastlake Landfill is steadily approaching the maximum capacity for the portion of land that has been developed, permitted, and is currently being used for solid waste disposal. The most recent disposal capacity estimate indicates that the landfill will reach maximum capacity in approximately eight to ten years. While work is currently in progress for a landfill expansion that will increase that capacity by 20-25 years, that process is expected to take six to seven years until the landfill is fully permitted and constructed to the point that it will be ready to accept the first load of solid waste in the expansion area. Furthermore, based on our experience from the 2015-2017 wildfires the debris we can expect to receive from the Redwood Valley Fire would consume landfill space equivalent to that of approximately one year of “normal” solid waste operations. The consumption of this amount of landfill space in a compressed period reduces the time available to plan and complete a necessary landfill expansion. To that end staff contacted CalRecycle and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, the two primary permitting agencies for the landfill, to determine the possibility of expediting the expansion project. Inasmuch as neither agency could commit to any shortcuts or a shorter timeline for the permitting process, they did state that they have the ability to prioritize the projects to be reviewed and that consideration would be given to the wildfire impacts and remaining airspace capacity when the Eastlake Landfill expansion project is submitted.
In addition to the concern of airspace capacity, the increased quantity of debris coming into the landfill coupled with the burdensome handling requirements of the type of debris increases the operational costs associated with running the landfill. Some of the more noteworthy increased costs as a result of the fire debris include equipment rental and maintenance, overtime and additional staffing to support the influx of additional tonnage, contracting of projects that would have otherwise been performed more cost-effectively by County staff, special handling requirements for the fire debris, and rapid deterioration of the roads leading to the landfill.
Staff is analyzing the financial impact of accepting out-of-county fire debris and will present a recommended tonnage rate for out-of-county fire debris at the November 14th Board of Supervisors meeting.
FISCAL IMPACT: __ None __Budgeted __Non-Budgeted
Estimated Cost: N/A
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Requested:
Annual Cost (if planned for future years): N/A
FISCAL IMPACT (Narrative):
A presentation will be provided addressing financial concerns with out-of-county fire debris.
STAFFING IMPACT (if applicable):
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Staff recommends that the Board receive the information related to fire debris and direct staff as appropriate.