The City of Clearlake recently received a letter from the California Integrated Waste Management Board citing noncompliance with requirements to reduce and recycle.
A 30-day Notice of Intent to issue the city a compliance order for failure to adequately implement its Source Reduction and Recycling Elements and meet the 50 percent diversion requirement was issued on Jan. 13.
There are two meetings concerning the matter scheduled in Sacramento next month, which necessitate the attendance of the mayor as well as the city administrator.
The meetings will provide an opportunity for representatives to present the city”s program implementation efforts, diversion rate achievements and/or any other special circumstances the city would like the waste management board to consider.
A Permit and Compliance Committee meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17. A public hearing will be conducted during the waste management board meeting, which begins at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Both meetings will be held at the Joe Serna Jr., CalEPA building, Coastal Hearing Room located on the second floor at 1001 I Street in Sacramento.
Issuing a compliance order to the city will be considered at the public hearing. Failure to meet the requirements of the Compliance Order may result in civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Public Resources Code (PRC) Section 41780 requires a 50 percent diversion rate for California cities. According to the CIWMB, the City of Clearlake is not meeting that requirement.
“The city has implemented SRRE-selected diversion programs, but implemented programs are not providing sufficient reductions in disposal to enable the city to achieve the 50 percent diversion requirement of PRC Section 41780,” Frank Simpson, jurisdiction compliance and audit section supervisor for the CIWMB states in the document received by the city.
“The city”s 2005 and 2006 diversion rates are 45 and 38, respectively. Preliminary disposal/diversion tonnage for 2007 show that the city”s diversion numbers have been significantly less than 50 percent.”
According to City Administrator Dale Neiman there are several factors contributing to the city”s failure to meet diversion requirements.
Most cities, he said, have a dedicated person who works full time to carry out recycling programs. Clearlake does not have the resources to hire such staff. Neiman also explained that when the legislation was passed the base year for adoption was 1990.
“The average house in Clearlake produced 4.22 pounds of trash per day. So, in 1990 the average house needed to only produce 2.1 pounds of trash per day,” Neiman said in his report. “It would be very difficult and expensive to meet this requirement. For comparison, the average house in Lakeport produced 8.41 pounds of trash.”
Among other factors contributing to the situation Neiman said is a substantial amount of illegal dumping going on in the city as well as the prohibiting of burn barrels, which occurred in the late 90s. “All the material that use to be burned was added to the waste stream thereby making it much more difficult to meet the State”s requirement,” he said.
Staff from the waste management board has reportedly been in town recently monitoring the city”s efforts and the amount of recycling that has been done by homes and businesses.
A full agenda packet outlining the Compliance Order will be available 10 days before the board meeting on the CIWMB Web site, www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Agendas.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
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