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U.S. Forest Service officials have laid out four alternatives for capping the Meyers landfill to contain vinyl chloride gas.
Water percolating through decomposing waste at the approximately 12-acre site has created a vinyl chloride-containing contaminant plume, extending approximately 1,500 feet downhill from the site.
"The whole purpose of putting a cap on is to keep the water out," Dennis Geiser, a regional environmental engineer with the forest service, said at a public meeting last week.
Thursday's meeting was limited to the alternatives that contain contaminants in the landfill itself. Remedies for the contaminant plume, which extends in the direction of Saxon Creek, will be heard at subsequent meetings.
"We've got a known carcinogen that's not going away," said Rex Norman, a Forest Service spokesman. "It's going to stay there."
Keeping the gas contained to prevent human and environmental health problems is the idea behind the cap configurations. Alternative one is a mandatory "no action" alternative serving as a baseline for comparison to the other three.
The second alternative provides the minimum cap required for landfill covers under California law. It is composed of five feet of ground cover, consisting of three different layers of soil and a single layer of clay. Costing $3.6 million, the alternative is the least expensive, but Tahoe's freeze-thaw cycles would make it the least durable of the alternatives.
"Because this alternative consists of the minimum cap configuration, public access to the site and area would be restricted," according to Forest Service literature.
Water percolating through decomposing waste at the approximately 12-acre site has created a vinyl chloride-containing contaminant plume, extending approximately 1,500 feet downhill from the site.
"The whole purpose of putting a cap on is to keep the water out," Dennis Geiser, a regional environmental engineer with the forest service, said at a public meeting last week.
Thursday's meeting was limited to the alternatives that contain contaminants in the landfill itself. Remedies for the contaminant plume, which extends in the direction of Saxon Creek, will be heard at subsequent meetings.
"We've got a known carcinogen that's not going away," said Rex Norman, a Forest Service spokesman. "It's going to stay there."
Keeping the gas contained to prevent human and environmental health problems is the idea behind the cap configurations. Alternative one is a mandatory "no action" alternative serving as a baseline for comparison to the other three.
The second alternative provides the minimum cap required for landfill covers under California law. It is composed of five feet of ground cover, consisting of three different layers of soil and a single layer of clay. Costing $3.6 million, the alternative is the least expensive, but Tahoe's freeze-thaw cycles would make it the least durable of the alternatives.
"Because this alternative consists of the minimum cap configuration, public access to the site and area would be restricted," according to Forest Service literature.
Alternatives three and four, costing $4.3 million and $4.9 million respectively, incorporate layers of plastic sheeting into the configuration of alternative two, making the site suitable for more intensive future use. Alternative three is the Forest Service's preferred alternative.
"Alternative 4 contains all the same components as Alternative 3 with one exception; an additional foot of cover soil would be included to be more protective of the landfill cover system and allow for more intense recreational and post closure use (picnic areas, sporting fields, etc.)," according to Forest Service literature.
The Meyers site, located between Pioneer Trail and Saxon Creek, operated as a municipal landfill from 1946 to 1971.
The public comment period on the landfill alternatives runs until July 4. Additional information, including details of the alternatives, can be found at www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/local/meyers/.
An informational meeting by the U.S. Forest Service about the Meyers Landfill cleanup quickly became a series of public assertions that the agency should make a decision now about the future use of the site.
More than 50 people, mostly proponents for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care's future home to be built at the site, attended the meeting on May 24.
"(The U.S. Forest Service) should determine what they're going to do with the land first," said Tom Millham, secretary and treasurer for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, after the meeting. "We feel we have something that is viable and would be good for the community and the region."
Millham envisions a wildlife park, similar to Northwest Trek in Washington State, for the old landfill.
"Alternative 4 contains all the same components as Alternative 3 with one exception; an additional foot of cover soil would be included to be more protective of the landfill cover system and allow for more intense recreational and post closure use (picnic areas, sporting fields, etc.)," according to Forest Service literature.
The Meyers site, located between Pioneer Trail and Saxon Creek, operated as a municipal landfill from 1946 to 1971.
The public comment period on the landfill alternatives runs until July 4. Additional information, including details of the alternatives, can be found at www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/local/meyers/.
An informational meeting by the U.S. Forest Service about the Meyers Landfill cleanup quickly became a series of public assertions that the agency should make a decision now about the future use of the site.
More than 50 people, mostly proponents for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care's future home to be built at the site, attended the meeting on May 24.
"(The U.S. Forest Service) should determine what they're going to do with the land first," said Tom Millham, secretary and treasurer for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, after the meeting. "We feel we have something that is viable and would be good for the community and the region."
Millham envisions a wildlife park, similar to Northwest Trek in Washington State, for the old landfill.
"It's the perfect site," said Millham. "It's everything we've been looking for during the past 12 years."
Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care currently operates out of Millham's backyard, and has been told by El Dorado County to move the facility, he said.
The landfill area, currently closed for cleanup, is designated by the Forest Service for low impact recreation. Future uses that call for structures to be built at the site would force a change to the basin's forest plan.
Changing the plan requires a separate process than the one going on right now to cap the landfill, according to Rex Norman, Forest Service spokesman.
"Federal lands cannot make land use change decisions without going through the National Environmental Policy Act public process for decision making," said Norman in an e-mail. "The scope of the decision now is just about the cap."
Despite some objections and a disagreement about whether the site's future should be part of the current public process from project manager Brad Shipley at Thursday's meeting, at least two years of monitoring to determine the landfill cap's effectiveness and the site's safety will be required before the site can be utilized, according to Norman.
"We're going to get to what the future use is, but we're not there yet," said Eli Ilano, deputy forest supervisor, on Thursday. "We understand your frustration and I hope you understand our process."
Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care currently operates out of Millham's backyard, and has been told by El Dorado County to move the facility, he said.
The landfill area, currently closed for cleanup, is designated by the Forest Service for low impact recreation. Future uses that call for structures to be built at the site would force a change to the basin's forest plan.
Changing the plan requires a separate process than the one going on right now to cap the landfill, according to Rex Norman, Forest Service spokesman.
"Federal lands cannot make land use change decisions without going through the National Environmental Policy Act public process for decision making," said Norman in an e-mail. "The scope of the decision now is just about the cap."
Despite some objections and a disagreement about whether the site's future should be part of the current public process from project manager Brad Shipley at Thursday's meeting, at least two years of monitoring to determine the landfill cap's effectiveness and the site's safety will be required before the site can be utilized, according to Norman.
"We're going to get to what the future use is, but we're not there yet," said Eli Ilano, deputy forest supervisor, on Thursday. "We understand your frustration and I hope you understand our process."
What is Vinyl Chloride?
Vinyl Chloride is a gas used mostly to make vinyl and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products. Short-term exposure to high levels of the gas has resulted in dizziness, drowsiness, and headaches in humans. Long-term exposure to vinyl chloride through inhalation and oral exposure has resulted in liver damage. Cancer is a major concern from exposure to vinyl chloride via inhalation, as exposure to the gas has been shown to increase the risk of a rare form of liver cancer in humans.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Sewer Line
In addition to capping the landfill, the Forest Service has developed three options to manage a South Tahoe Public Utility District sewer line running beneath a section of the landfill.
Option 1 Ð Leave the sewer line in place
Option 2 Ð Move the sewer line outside the limits of the landfill
Vinyl Chloride is a gas used mostly to make vinyl and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products. Short-term exposure to high levels of the gas has resulted in dizziness, drowsiness, and headaches in humans. Long-term exposure to vinyl chloride through inhalation and oral exposure has resulted in liver damage. Cancer is a major concern from exposure to vinyl chloride via inhalation, as exposure to the gas has been shown to increase the risk of a rare form of liver cancer in humans.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Sewer Line
In addition to capping the landfill, the Forest Service has developed three options to manage a South Tahoe Public Utility District sewer line running beneath a section of the landfill.
Option 1 Ð Leave the sewer line in place
Option 2 Ð Move the sewer line outside the limits of the landfill
Option 3 Ð Consolidate the landfill waste from above and east of the sewer line
Additional information on the options can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/local/meyers/
What's Next
Who: U.S. Forest Service
What: Meyers Landfill Meeting
When: June 14, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Forest Supervisor's Office, 35 College Drive, South lake Tahoe
Additional information on the options can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/local/meyers/
What's Next
Who: U.S. Forest Service
What: Meyers Landfill Meeting
When: June 14, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Forest Supervisor's Office, 35 College Drive, South lake Tahoe
