Irvine : Waste Treatment Plant Location Battles Seen

Battle lines will be drawn over where to locate hazardous waste treatment plants--not how to treat the toxic materials--when California bans the disposal of those waste products at landfills in 1990, a state health official predicted Wednesday.

Angelo Bellomo, a toxic substances expert with the state Department of Health Services, said the technology already exists to develop ways to treat and safely dispose of hazardous materials. What is less certain--and politically more explosive--is where to build commercial treatment plants that are necessary once the toxic waste ban at state landfills becomes law.

As a result, he said the decision on locating treatment plants may hinge on “political forces” rather than “public health and environmental” factors. And he suggested that picking sites for the treatment plants will quickly become a major issue across the state as municipalities compete to keep such a facility out of their jurisdiction.

It is expected that at least one plant will be targeted for Orange County, although no determination has been made by state officials on the number or allocation of treatment facilities.

Bellomo spoke as part of a panel on hazardous materials at UC Irvine. The discussion, in part, was designed to draw attention to the university’s Hazardous Materials Week, Nov. 7-14.

County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, one of the panel members, said the struggle to find an acceptable site for a new central jail--now planned for Gypsum/Coal Canyon--will pale in comparison to the anticipated fight over placement of a toxic waste treatment plant.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Wieder said.