COUNTYWIDE : Landfill Owners to Sue Operators

The owners of the Bailard Landfill announced Thursday that they plan to sue the Ventura Regional Sanitation District to stop what they consider illegal dumping of toxic waste at the facility.

Sanitation officials denied they were doing anything illegal and called the owners’ allegations the latest maneuver in a protracted legal battle between the owners and the district over who should pay $8.4 million in cleanup costs when the landfill closes sometime in the next five years.

In a legal notice, the owners allege that the district, acting as the landfill operator, “invited, received, disposed of and deposited on leased real property municipal solid waste containing hazardous substances and materials in violation of the laws of California and United States, as well as of the lease” with the 60 property owners who own the 160-acre landfill site.

David Worley, attorney for the sanitation district, said it is impossible to sort through every ounce of trash and pick out such items as lipstick, hair spray and motor oil cans that residents throw in their trash bags.

“We have five regulatory agencies who are constantly monitoring what we do, and we have an excellent compliance record,” he said.

“We can put this landfill up against any landfill in the state.”

But C. Michael Cooney, the property owners’ attorney, said the district could do more to screen hazardous materials.

A study by a University of Arizona anthropologist based on sanitation district statistics concluded that 2,500 of the half-million tons of garbage in the landfill is toxic waste, he said.

“When the landfill closes, the owners are stuck with the cleanup bill,” Cooney said.

“That’s why we need to take care of the problem now.”