Oceanside City Councilmember Gary Felien: Oceanside stands against special interest

North County Times Forum

By: Oceanside City Councilmember Gary Felien

August 2, 2011

At our last meeting, three members of the Oceanside City Council took a stand against powerful special interests and stood up to protect the will of the people.

On July 6, the Oceanside City Council voted 3-2 to oppose SB 833 by Sen. Juan Vargas (D-San Diego), taking an official stand against unnecessary and dangerous legislation that attempts to overrule the will of Oceanside and San Diego County voters.

SB 833 is a blatant attempt by Sacramento politicians to intrude in local affairs, by stepping in at the last minute to block an approved landfill project that Oceanside and San Diego County voters supported overwhelmingly at the polls in two separate landslide elections.

SB 833 targets the Gregory Canyon Landfill, which is one of the most exhaustively studied and thoroughly researched projects of its kind. After 17 years of detailed planning and scientific review, this state-of-the-art facility has received multiple permits from some of the strictest environmental regulators in the nation. After studying the facts, scientific experts determined that Gregory Canyon presents no threat to local waterways or the underground aquifer and could in fact set new national standards when it becomes one of the most environmentally protected landfills in the country.

The facts, science and data support Gregory Canyon, which is why project opponents are now circumventing the legal approval process and resorting to dirty politics to try to block it.

SB 833 is a dangerous, job-killing bill that sets a chilling precedent. It sends a message to businesses across the country that in California, companies are punished for playing by the rules and project approval depends on pay-to-play politicians.

The Gregory Canyon Landfill should be approved or denied based on its merits, not special-interest politics. As local elected officials, we shouldn't allow out-of-town politicians to bully local voters, community leaders and elected representatives who have overwhelmingly supported this project on multiple occasions.

I'm proud to be part of a City Council that took a stand against special-interest politics and stood up for what is right. I'm now hoping the state Legislature will do the same.

 Gary Felien is a member of the Oceanside City Council.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/article_5c908829-a5c2-5bee-9317-7ac01f3ddd20.html#ixzz1TvtejUbU

Oceanside City Council Adopts Resolution Opposing SB 833

Resolution describes SB 833 (Vargas) as "classic pay to play legislation"

View it here

Gregory Canyon Landfill wins state approval

Long way still to go before construction might start

By J. Harry Jones, San Diego Union Tribune
July 15, 2011

NORTH COUNTY — A state agency that oversees trash dumps has agreed with San Diego County that a critical permit needed to build the Gregory Canyon landfill in rural North County should be issued.

The decision, released Friday afternoon by CalRecycle, represents the culmination of more than a decade of effort by Gregory Canyon Ltd., the private developer of the project that has invested nearly 20 years and more than $60 million into the plans. The landfill would be located east of Interstate 15 just south of state Route 76 near the San Luis Rey River and Pala.

The state agency agreed with an earlier decision by the county’s Department of Environmental Health that the benefits of the landfill outweigh the problems it could create.

However, as has been true throughout the long battle to get the landfill built, the issuance of the permit does not mean the dump will be constructed any time soon.

Opponents will appeal the solid waste facilities permit, county officials have been told, and therefore it will not be issued until after a public hearing has been held sometime in the next three months. Plus the developer still needs to obtain four other independent permits from various local, state and federal agencies before construction can begin.

Complicating matters further, legislation in Sacramento that could quash the landfill plans is still pending. Should Senate Bill 833, sponsored by Sen. Juan Vargas, be approved and signed by the governor later this year, it would stop the project in its tracks. That would most likely then lead to a lawsuit by Gregory Canyon Ltd., which has insisted it will not give up because it has too much time and money invested.

“We’re pleased with the latest approval from CalRecycle in one of the most scrutinized projects in the history of the state. This will allow us to move forward to build the most environmentally safe landfill in the United States,” said Gregory Canyon Ltd. Spokeswoman Nancy Chase.

CalRecycle Issues Staff Recommendation Regarding Gregory Canyon Solid Waste Facility Permit

CalRecycle staff recommends that the Acting Director consider the FEIR and RFEIR and other environmental documents, adopt the LEA’s findings respecting the project’s significant impacts as the Department’s own, adopt the LEA’s Statement of Overriding Considerations as the Department’s own and concur in the proposed solid waste facilities permit. 

Click to read the full report: CalRecycle Staff Report

Gregory Canyon Landfill challenge dismissed

San Diego Union Tribune

June 22, 2011

PALA — A state agency has dismissed a challenge made by opponents of the long-sought Gregory Canyon landfill  in rural North County, saying that a recent decision to recommend the issuance of a Solid Waste Permit by San Diego County was based on a sound and legally complete application.

That recommendation must still be approved by Cal Recycle, the state agency that oversees landfill development.

Just last week a lawsuit was filed by opponents of the landfill challenging the county’s decision, a move that almost guarantees another delay of the project, which has been in development for nearly two decades.

The landfill would be built about three miles east of Interstate 15 just south of state Route 76 in a canyon west of Gregory Mountain. Several environmental groups concerned about the effect a trash dump might have on the San Luis Rey River, and the Pala Indians, whose reservation lies just to the east, have been fighting the plans since the 1990s.

The challenge to the county’s approval of the permit came from the Pala Indians who maintain the landfill would be built near sacred land.

To complicate matters further, a bill in Sacramento that would prohibit building landfills near a river or near sacred Indian sites is working its way through the Legislature this summer. If it passes and is signed by the governor, it to would likely become the subject of a lawsuit by Gregory Canyon Ltd., the would-be developers who have spent more than $60 million on the project already.

The developers have said they are committed to the project and have worked too hard to ever give up.

Even with the issuance of a Solid Waste Permit, several other key permits are still needed before construction could begin.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/22/gregory-canyon-landfill-challenge-dismissed/

State Agency Decision Favors Gregory Canyon Landfill

 

 

PRESS RELEASE                                       

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

June 20, 2011

State Agency Decision Favors Gregory Canyon Landfill
CalRecycle Declares Landfill Permit to be “Complete and Correct”

San Diego, CA- The Gregory Canyon Landfill project cleared another regulatory hurdle when the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) ruled that the project’s Solid Waste Facility Permit application satisfactorily addresses all application requirements. CalRecycle’s decision to declare the Gregory Canyon Landfill application “complete and correct” is yet another affirmation that this waste management project has met all the regulatory hurdles required to provide San Diego County residents with the most environmentally protected landfill in the country – one that sets a new standard of excellence.

“CalRecycle’s decision is one more affirmation that the Gregory Canyon Landfill project meets and even exceeds all environmental requirements,” said project manager Jim Simmons. “The Gregory Canyon Landfill design will both respect and restore the surrounding environment, while providing San Diego County residents with the low-cost, long-term waste management solution they need,” Simmons continued.

“After more than 20 years of scientific scrutiny and innovative engineering, the project launch date is finally near.  We are eager to begin.  The sooner we start, the sooner we can create a state-of-the-art landfill that will be a model for the rest of the country – a project that preserves nearby lands while creating hundreds of new jobs for San Diego County residents.”

CalRecycle’s June 16th decision was in response to a regulatory challenge by the Pala Band of Mission Indians, which had appealed a decision by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health in its capacity as Solid Waste Local Enforcement Agency (LEA).  On May 13, 2011, the LEA issued a Solid Waste Facility Permit for the Gregory Canyon Landfill after determining the application was “complete and correct.” The Pala Band of Mission Indians challenged the LEA’s “complete and correct” declaration on 13-points, but CalRecyle rejected each charge and stated that the “relevant evidence and administrative record are not in dispute.”  The application submitted by Gregory Canyon Landfill provided an extensive body of scientific evidence and detailed engineering plans to ensure the project offers the highest level of environmental protection possible.

CalRecycle’s next step is to rule whether to “concur” with the LEA’s permit decision, a ruling is expected by July 13th, 2011.

Gregory Canyon Landfill has been in development for more than 20-years and received two overwhelming public votes of support in two separate countywide elections, in 1994 and 2004.

The Gregory Canyon Landfill is located along SR76, 3 ½ miles east of Interstate 15.  The project has incorporated an unprecedented double liner system with five containment layers, which will ensure protection of groundwater and surface water.  The 1,770-acre project will also include at least 1,461 acres of permanently preserved habitat, an on-site habitat creation and enhancement area of 212 acres, and about 350 acres of off-site permanently preserved habitat.

North San Diego County has not had a landfill since the closure of the San Marcos Landfill in the late 1990’s.  A local site serving north San Diego County is expected to reduce traffic impacts throughout the County by up to one million vehicle miles each year. In addition to economic savings to consumers through increased competition and lower transportation costs, the project will help reduce traffic congestion and energy consumption.

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Dan Walters: Legislature blithely interferes with local decision-making

Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee

June 3, 2011 Page 3A

While state legislators pay lip service to local decision-making, they also claim a divine right to intervene in local conflicts by siding with one faction or the other, even when it means overturning ordinary governmental and legal processes.

Sen. Juan Vargas, who made it back into the Legislature last year by the skin of his teeth, embraces that dubious, time-dishonored practice with measures that would intervene in two local development flaps.

The one-time San Diego assemblyman defeated fellow Democrat Mary Salas by just 22 votes after one of the hardest fought and most expensive legislative primary contests in California history. He then coasted to an easy win in the November election in the heavily Democratic 40th Senate District, which sprawls along the state's southern border, and may run for Congress next year.

Business groups poured money into Vargas' campaign while Salas was favored by labor unions and other elements of the party establishment. And one of her financial supporters was the California Tribal Business Alliance, a coalition of casino-owning Indian tribes.

However, one Vargas bill, Senate Bill 833, takes the side of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, one of those casino-owning tribes, in a bitter fight over a 308-acre landfill disposal site in San Diego County called Gregory Canyon.

Gregory Canyon Ltd. has been working nearly two decades to secure multiple state and local permits – including two successful ballot measure campaigns – and establish the site over the objections of the Pala Band and some environmental groups. In 2000, then-Gov. Gary Davis vetoed a bill to block the project.

The firm was on the cusp of final approval when Vargas stepped in with SB 833, which would block the project and thus give a win to the tribe and other project opponents who had lost in other arenas.

Meanwhile, another Vargas bill, SB 469, inserts the state into a long-running controversy in San Diego over development of "superstores" by Walmart and other big retailers, taking the side of grocery store unions and Walmart's competitors who were losing at the local level. The measure would require such stores to undergo economic-impact analyses, giving opponents more legal ammunition.

A city ordinance once required such analyses but Walmart qualified a ballot measure to challenge the law and the city rescinded it. Now Vargas wants to make it state law – very selectively, because his bill would apply to Walmart but exempt Costco and similar stores.

It should be bothersome that legislators who can't balance the budget or otherwise perform their legitimate duties would blithely interfere with years of exhaustively detailed permitting procedures, as the Gregory Canyon bill would do, or overturn local land-use processes, as the Walmart bill would do.