http://www.hidesertstar.com/articles/2005/09/24/news/news1.txt

News

Judge derails mega-dump bordering national park

DESERT CENTER - A long-awaited federal court decision was returned this week. Judge Robert Timlin of the Central District Federal Court in Riverside announced his decision in favor of plaintiffs seeking to derail plans for the Eagle Mountain Dump. For the third time in the 18-year battle against the dump, Kaiser Venture's plans for establishing the world's largest landfill bordering Joshua Tree National Park just off of Highway 10 near Desert Center were derailed.

First proposed by Kaiser 18 years ago under the name of its subsidiary, Mine Reclamation Corporation, the dump would accept 20,000 tons of garbage per day for 117 years from Los Angeles and other Southern California counties. Bitterly protested, first by locals in the Chuckwalla Valley area and later by a larger consortium of local and environmental groups, the case has assumed status as an emblematic battle between guerrilla conservationists and well-funded, well-connected industrialists.

Proposed for location right on the border of Joshua Tree National Park, the project has always been criticized as a profound threat to the park's ecosystem.In his decision summary, Timlin noted the project proponents had not demonstrated satisfactory plans to mitigate environmental impacts on the park land.

Weakness in the project's environmental impact study and Timlin's judgment against a land swap between Kaiser and the Bureau of Land Management were the cornerstones of the decision. Kaiser had traded some of its lands in the Chocolate Mountains area for BLM controlled lands nearby the proposed dump site. Analysis of the transaction showed uneven valuation of the lands involved, and Timlin determined that the public had not been well-served.

Chuckwalla Valley residents Donna and Larry Charpied have fought the dump idea since its inception. They have been involved in every suit against the project and have recruited most of the support they now have for bringing about its final defeat.

Elated with the news, Donna praised the judge for his decision and added: "We're on top of the world, and from where we sit, the outlook is bleak for the polluters."

Filers of a companion suit, the National Park Conservation Association also praised the decision as "a landmark for the long-term protection of JTNP." California Desert Program Manager Howard Gross said, "Los Angeles county's waste-disposal needs can be met for many decades by using the just-approved Mesquite Landfill in Imperial County, and increasing recycling rates to levels that other counties are already achieving."

As for Kaiser Ventures, an officer there said the company is "surprised by the decision," and is just beginning to study its options. Basically they are two. The company can do another environmental impact study,or it can appeal. Should it choose to appeal, it has 60 days to file with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.