Please check the Newby landfill's myths and facts. Stop Newby Island Expansion Facts

Dear officials,

Please help thousands and millions of citizens to deny the Newby Landfill Expansion!!  It is absurd to expand a landfill in Silicon Valley, the heart of high tech and heavily populated cities where thousands of residents, workers, and school kids live, work, and study on the downwind of the landfill and smell the odor almost every day!!  We are facing the great danger of groundwater pollution which may cause cancers!

 Ironically, even though the landfill operator claimed that they can continue to operate for over 10 years without the expansion (no need to expand); even though the expansion is clearly against the CEQA and San Jose municipal codes(against laws); even though the groundwater under the Zanker Landfill (sharing the same groundwater body with the Newby Landfill) has already been found polluted with cancerous substance, the 1,4 dioxane; even though there are more than one landfill that can be Newby Landfill's alternative, state and local agencies have ignored all facts and gone ahead to approve this expansion project.  

We can clearly foresee the landfill is endangering public health, will the government take no actions to prevent the irreversible damage to the public on air, water, soil and ultimately damage public health and safety? 

We are very disappointed and outraged by the broken landfill governing system where the individual governing agency can do little towards the air, water, and soil pollutions created by landfills but say yes to the expansion and do little to protect public health and safety. 

We have to point out that if the state and local government enforce their own regulations, codes, and ordinances, this public nuisance project, Newby Landfill expansion has no chance to get a permit.  It is against governmental laws, irresponsible and immoral for the local government to approve the landfill's expansion that has been officially defined as a public nuisance.  What we are asking for government to do is to enforce its own codes and restore landfill impacted areas' residents' basic human right to breathe clean air, safe drinking water, and clean soil!!!

Our reasons for requesting SJ government to deny the Newby Landfill expansion stand reasonable and firm!!! 

1. CEQA and San Jose municipal code say no new project should be approved if it causes significant environmental impact. 

The following is paragraphs from San Jose Ordinance 26248, 26995, 29484

20.100.940-findings

A. the director, the planning commission on appeal or the city council as appropriate, may issue a planned development only if all of the following findings are made:

…..

4. The environmental impacts of the project, including, but not limited to noise, vibration, dust, drainage, erosion, storm water runoff, and odor which, even if insignificant for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) will not have an unacceptable negative effect on adjacent property or properties.

In just a few months, Newby Landfill has received 6 public nuisance tickets from government agency BAAQMD and over 2000 odor complaints. The Newby Landfill expansion can't meet the 20.100.940-findings 4.

2. Great possibility to pollute our groundwater and SF Bay.

A) Newby landfill is located next to wetland, SF bay, and surrounded by coyote creek.  That allows toxic substances easy access into groundwater, such as 1,4 Dioxane, extremely water soluble and cancerous substance.  One scary finding is that 1,4 dioxane has been found in the Zanker Landfill.  The water testing report shows that 1,4 dioxane in the groundwater is 99x higher than state notification level.  Newby landfill shares the groundwater body with Zanker landfill. 

B) Most landfills have been found to have been polluting groundwater after they are closed when damage to humans and the environment has been done and nothing can be reversed.

C) Newby landfill is located in an earthquake zone that makes the 245ft loose garbage mountain easily to be shifted or fall into SF bay. 

D) Newby Landfill is also located in a flood zone. The levee is very sandy and fragile. If the Bay water breaks through the levee, the water floods into cities passing the garbage mountain, what will happen to the residents?

 3. Newby landfill is a Green House Gas generator which is global climate change’s biggest contributor. Landfills generate landfill gas due to the waste decomposition process. The landfill gas contains methane and carbon dioxide (which are greenhouse gas: GHG) and small amounts of non-methane organic compounds (NMOC) and sulfur compounds. Many of NMOCs are precursor organic compounds (POC), and many NMOCs and also toxic air contaminants (TACs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Hydrogen sulfide, a TAC, makes up about 95% or more of the sulfur compounds. (From BAAQMD Title V permit evaluation document).

4. Newby expansion is truly against San Jose city's own recently adopted policy of Zero Waste.

5. No need for Newby landfill to expand. 

A) There is no issue of garbage having nowhere to go. Around 44 landfills around the bay have been closed early or closed at max capacity. There are five remaining that are all in San Jose boundary. Kirby Canyon has around 11M cubic yards remaining capacity, as of 2011; Guadalupe Mine has 11M cubic yards remaining capacity, as of 2011. The two landfills are located at remote areas and downwind of residential area so the unbearable garbage smell won't affect residents and with almost two times the capacity Newby expansion is seeking.

B) Over 10 years remaining operating time.  Newby landfill executive said without expansion, they still can operate 10 years. Why pursue the expansion now? 

For the reasons above, we represent the over 22,000 (over 17k online and over 4K inked signatures) opposing the Newby landfill Expansion supporters, government officials, pease serve your people and enforce your own codes, regulations, and ordinances: 

1. Deny the Newby landfill expansion 

2. Install no bias Jerome Meters around the landfill's neighborhood to detect the hydrogen sulfide in order to protect residents’ health and eliminate the foul odor.

3. Change the single jurisdiction of issuing expansion permit and regulation enforcement body to multiple jurisdictions including all local governments that are impacted by the landfill. Assemblyman  Kansen Chu's AB385 is a good start. For preventing future argument, please define the starting boundary line as the landfill's border and give all environment impacted cities governing and code enforcement authority.

The petition: www.tinyurl.com/stoplandfill

Jennifer Strohfus / Silicon Valley Odor Problem Google Group

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