Study Selects Weldon as Best Site for Dump : Trash: The environmental report due out today urges that the area of the proposed landfill be reduced 70%.

The summary of a final environmental study released Wednesday concludes that Weldon Canyon north of Ventura is the best location for a major landfill in western Ventura County.

The summary, however, lists several irreversible consequences for the environment if such a dump is built at the location: loss of Chumash Indian artifacts, native oaks and other trees, and increases in air pollution, toxic gas, odor, noise and dust.

The full environmental impact report, scheduled to be released to Ventura County officials today, recommends that Waste Management Inc., which has applied to build the dump in the western county, reduce the size of the landfill by about 70% from 320 acres to 110.

If the County Board of Supervisors approves the company’s application, Waste Management officials say they will reapply to use the remaining property in 2015.

The reduced capacity of the landfill--which would collect refuse from Ojai, Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo and Port Hueneme through 2032--would still be large enough to fill a lot the size of the County Government Center to a height of 46 feet.

With a revised capacity of 19.9 million cubic yards of trash, Weldon would replace the Bailard Landfill in Oxnard. That landfill could close at the end of 1993 unless permit extensions are granted for another two years.

Reducing the size, a recommendation first made public in a preliminary study released in February, would produce fewer environmental problems than the full-size dump but would still leave a list of 10 problems described as significant. The earlier report listed four significant problems.

But even with the environmental problems, Weldon Canyon is still the best option for a landfill in the western county, said Scott Ellison, the county planner who presided over the exhaustive two-year, $1-million study paid for by Waste Management.

“It’s not possible to recycle 100% of landfill materials,” he said. “And if Weldon is not approved and the life of the Bailard Landfill is not extended, we would have to haul our trash outside of the county.”

The latter solution, he said, would be hard on the environment because of additional air pollution that would be created by trucks hauling the garbage. Plus, it would be difficult politically because other counties do not want the trash, he said.

Although the loss of nearly 10 acres of wildlife habitat along a stream bed on the Weldon Canyon site was considered significant in the earlier environmental report, planners concluded in the final draft that it could be replaced.

Mark Capelli, a state biologist who volunteers with the Friends of the Ventura River group, disputed that finding.

“It’s not possible that there wouldn’t be a significant impact,” he said. “Habitat like that is not really replaceable.”

The county would require Waste Management to replant four acres for every acre of sensitive habitat destroyed. Waste Management would either have to do the restoration at Weldon Canyon or contribute funds toward revitalizing other damaged areas, such as the Ventura River or Mugu Lagoon.

Weldon Canyon was first selected as the best site for a landfill in a 1985 county study that evaluated 38 sites. Waste Management negotiated a lease for the Weldon property after the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, a public agency, had failed to negotiate a lease for Weldon with property owner Shel Bonsall.

The study released Wednesday found that Hammond Canyon, the only other site evaluated in detail, would create more air pollution because trucks would have to travel greater distances hauling refuse. In addition, a landfill at Hammond, just northeast of Weldon Canyon, would disturb a greater amount of sensitive wildlife habitat than if the landfill were built at Weldon.

County staff has recommended that supervisors not recirculate the document among concerned state and federal agencies before voting on the issue. That way, supervisors could vote on the matter by spring, Ellison said. If the report is sent out for review, the vote would be delayed at least until summer, he said.

But Pat Baggerly, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Coalition, which opposes a Weldon Canyon landfill, said the document should be sent to the state and federal agencies so that they can be alerted to changes from the preliminary draft.

“The responsible state agencies need to see immediately that additional adverse impacts were identified,” she said.

The Environmental Coalition objects to the Weldon Canyon site mostly because of the traffic and air pollution that it would generate in the Ojai Valley.

In addition, the group prefers that the Ventura Regional Sanitation District continue looking for a different landfill site so that Waste Management would not have a trash monopoly in the county. Waste Management already operates the Simi Valley Landfill, the only other major landfill in the county with permits to operate beyond 1993.

But James Jevens, Waste Management project manager, said that continuing to look for another landfill site is a “waste of taxpayers’ money.”

“We will be regulated by the county,” he said. “We have already allowed the county to study this thing to death.”

Environmental Problems at Weldon Canyon

1) Air Pollution: 445 pounds a day of nitrogen oxides and 653 pounds a day of hydrocarbons. Twenty-five pounds a day is considered significant.

2) Toxic Gas: At the landfill boundary, the risk of cancer is increased by nearly 48 cases in 1 million people, based on 70-year constant exposures.*

3) Odor: At the boundary, the smell will be significant. But odor would be less for the 270 homes nearby in the Valley Vista development.*

4) Chumash: The area holds strong religious values for Chumash Indians. The proposed operator says it will try to avoid important areas, but loss is unavoidable.

5) Oak Woodland: 1.4 acres of native oak would be removed or disturbed. The county would require two trees planted for every one removed.

6) Walnut Woodland: 1.5 acres of trees would be removed or destroyed. The county would require two trees planted for every one removed.

7) Nitrogen Dioxide: At the boundary, concentrations would exceed federal health standards and increase existing levels by 10 fold.*

8) Paleontology: Significant amounts of fossils are believed buried in the area. The county would require a staff person to monitor the excavated area.

9) Noise: Equipment, trucks and guns to startle sea gulls off the property would produce noise levels many times those considered significant.*

10) Dust: The amount of dust in the air would be twice that of existing levels, which are already two times higher than the state health standards.*

* Effects measured 50 feet from refuse.