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Eagle Mountain Project Secures Final Permit; California Rail Haul of
Urban Waste Now Feasible
PALM DESERT, Calif., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- After more than 10 years in
the
permitting process, the Eagle Mountain Landfill project today received
its
final approval. The California Integrated Waste Management Board voted
unanimously (5-0) to concur with the permit prepared by the Riverside
County
Department of Environmental Health, the local agency charged with
granting
and overseeing the operating permit for Eagle Mountain.
Eagle Mountain is now the only fully permitted railhaul landfill in
California. With all permits in hand, project developer Mine Reclamation
Corporation will seek to finalize municipal waste contracts needed to
build
and open the regional railhaul facility.
"We are elated by this approval," Richard A. Daniels, MRC president & CEO
stated. "And the timing is perfect. According to LA County projections,
the
region could run out of disposal capacity as early as 2003. Eagle
Mountain
can now be ready to meet that need."
Chairman of the California Integrated Waste Management Board, Dan Eaton
said,
"This is a culmination of 15 years of public debate. The success of this
project is now in the hands of those communities who want to see AB939
work
on a regional basis. Eagle Mountain will provide that opportunity both
locally and regionally."
"Eagle Mountain is a necessity, and is preferable to landfills in heavily
populated areas, as long as we are not endangering the environment,"
stated
former Senator David Roberti, California Integrated Waste Management
Board
Member. "I feel confident we are not with Eagle Mountain."
Approval from the state Waste Board completes the 20 permit approvals
necessary for Eagle Mountain to construct and operate, and follows an
exhaustive regulatory and legal process that began in 1989. The project
completed two mandated environmental reviews and was subjected to more
than
50 public hearings over the last 10 years.
"Our ultimate success is due to the fact that this site is an ideal one
for
its intended purpose and the fact that there is a continuing need for
environmentally superior disposal options in Southern California,"
Daniels
said. "It's time to stop sending waste to urban areas near population
centers via air-polluting trucks on crowded freeways. Eagle Mountain can
replace older, unlined, urban landfills and provide safe, long-term
capacity
in the region."
The Eagle Mountain project is located 60 miles east of Indio in the
remote
desert of Riverside County. The project will reclaim an existing,
abandoned,
open-pit formerly mined by Kaiser Steel. Eagle Mountain is designed to
receive a maximum of 20,000 tons per day of nonhazardous, municipal solid
waste via rail for up to 50 years.
SOURCE Eagle Mountain Landfill and Recycling Center
CO: Eagle Mountain Landfill and Recycling Center; Riverside County
Department of Environmental Health; Mine Reclamation Corporation