Keller Canyon Landfill Permit On County Supervisors' Agenda

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — Citizen complaints about odor and concerns about potentially
radioactive soil are two likely topics of discussion Tuesday as the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors does a permit review of the Keller Canyon Landfill just outside Pittsburg.

This will be the fifth Keller Canyon Landfill Land Use Permit Review since 2014, designed as an opportunity to evaluate the landfill's compliance with the many rules guiding its operation. With completion of this review, the next such review isn't scheduled until 2021.

This review has been postponed several times, mostly because of complaints about odor drifting from the dump over residential neighborhoods to the north in the city of Pittsburg. According to a county staff report, 195 such odor complaints were received from September 2017 through last
month. That compares to 15 such odor complaints received from September 2016 through September 2017, county staff said.

Also likely to be discussed at Tuesday's meeting is an ongoing investigation into whether some soil brought to Keller Canyon from the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco could be radioactive. Some tests showing the Hunters Point land was suitably cleaned up had been
falsified; two employees of the firm that filed those reports received eight-month prison sentences in connection with that.

County staff recommends that the supervisors accept this permit review report.

Tuesday's hearing begins at 9 a.m. inside the supervisors' chamber on the first floor of the Contra Costa County administration building, 651 Pine St. in Martinez.

By Bay City News Service

Image via Google Maps