LAKE COUNTY >> After sitting on the idea and conducting more research, Lake County has now authorized Mendocino County to use the Eastlake Landfill for debris cleanup and removal.
The county had previously denied the use due to concerns over the timeline until the facility is considered full.
Public Services Director Lars Ewing said currently with the 2017 disposal accounted for the Eastlake Landfill is at approximately 87 percent capacity. This also includes Sulphur Fire estimates.
“What we’ve addressed is how much airspace we have remaining, what disposal estimates we have basically forecast, factor in the Mendocino County estimates, mix that with the landfill expansion schedule and cost that we will factor in,” Ewing said.
To determine estimates, Ewing said they took the amount that was accumulated per property from the Valley Fire and multiplied that by the 130 properties that were destroyed by the Sulphur Fire. With this factored in, the county has 13 years left for use.
However, when factoring in the potential for unanticipated disasters it drops down to around 9.5 years.
“I think it is appropriate to factor that in. You never know what could happen between fires, floods or whatever may occur,” Ewing said.
Allowing Mendocino County to use the dump site will decrease the date by approximately two years.
A contract will be made between the ECC and the county where they will work out a deal to allow dumping and not exceed the amount of 400 properties. Ewing said he estimated this to be about 10 months of steady-state debris.
“We have about two years of wiggle room, for lack of a better term,” Ewing said.
This is a state-authorized cleanup that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracted Environmental and Chemical Consulting Inc. (ECC) to do.
For the contract to help offset the cost of dumping into the landfill, Ewing said they would charge $67.62 per ton. This is $15 more than what is currently offered to those in the county for regular disposal.
Lake County Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski said although this will impact us and shorten the timeline of the landfill, it is important to keep in mind the human aspect of allowing Mendocino to use the site and give back to communities who have helped us in the past.
“This is a chance to help someone else when so many others over the last two years gave so much help to us and I think it is important to never forget the human element,” Ruminski said. “Yeah, we make important business decisions and important government decisions, but if we can help someone else it’s always a good thing.”
