In order to bring the Caspar facility into compliance, the Water Quality Control Board ordered the County to "develop and implement a corrective action program, cease discharging waste at the site close the site and develop alternative means for solid waste disposal."
Appended to the Cease and Desist Order was a 13 point time schedule requiting the County to develop a new "waste management...disposal site somewhere in Mendocino County (by July 1st 1995) and "discontinue disposal operations at the Caspar site (July 1st 1996).
If the County fails to comply with the Order, the Executive Officer of the Water Quality Control Board "is directed to request the Attorney General to take appropriate enforcement actions against Mendocino County] including injunction and civil monetary remedies."
Will the County obey the law? The issue, predictably, revolves around money. Closing the Caspar facility is an enormously expensive undertaking, and cleaning up the landfill after closure will cost even more. Siting a new "waste management facility" in Mendocino County is yet another megabucks operation. Who is going to pay?
Several weeks ago, County Administrator Mike Scannel informed the Board of Supervisors that his office is " actively looking into " the possibility of determining who may have held a policy on the Caspar facility in years past, before the County took over day-to -day operation of the landfill in the late '70's. This approach may not be as far-fetched as it sounds, as recent Supreme Court decisions have determined that insurance carries in such circumstances can be held liable even years after policies lapse.
Another possibility is the Federal Government. On August 30th representatives of several local environmental organizations met with Congressman Frank Riggs to spell out the water and air quality problems being visited on the residents in the Caspar-Mendocino area because of the toxic conditions at the Caspar landfill and urged him to investigate the possibility of obtaining Superfund financing from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Local residents may be holding their breath for other reasons, but given EPA's uninspiring track record for cleaning up toxic sites nationwide, an adequate EPA response to the Caspar dilemma must be considered a long shot at best. Still, if Riggs can generate some action-and some cash- he will have succeeded where State, County and local officials have, manifestly failed. Being on top of the waste stream issue is not likely to hurt any political candidate as we enter an era of greatly increased awareness of toxic problems.
What about the height increase and the scoping session proposed by the County? When it became clear that Water Quality was preparing the cease and desist order, the County abruptly "postponed" the Scoping Session scheduled for late July. So far, no word as to whether the County will continue to seek the expansion of a landfill now declared illegal by the State.
Meanwhile, at least one worker at the Caspar facility has come down with symptoms consistent with vinyl chloride poisoning and a federal OSHA investigation of the working conditions at the landfill is pending. One of the practices likely to come under investigation is the use of water from one of the contaminated wells to spray down the landfill, adding it must be presumed, to the already serious air quality problems.
No follow-up air quality studies have been done since the alarming vinyl chloride figures showed up on the January, 1988, tests. On Friday, Sept. 6, Dan Chow of the County's Air Quality Control Board made a preliminary visit to the landfill accompanied by the Board of Supervisor Chairman Norman deVall with a view of seeking updates to the critical air quality figures.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2004
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited