(July 2007)

The Yolano Group was approached in late January by a group of citizens in southern Colusa County opposing a landfill proposed for the Cortina Band of Wintun Indians rancheria near Williams.
The Cortina Band has agreed to lease land to Cortina Integrated Waste Management, Inc., a subsidiary of Earthworks Industries of Vancouver Canada, for a waste management facility on 443 acres of land within the rancheria. It would have the capacity to accept up to 1500 tons of solid waste per day. Total land-fill traffic would be 104 to112 round trips daily. The proposal is to accept only non-hazardous waste from residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural origins. Sludge from a waste water treatment plant would also be permitted. The waste would come from several other jurisdictions, such as Sonoma and San Francisco Counties.
During the public process leading to this decision, several Cortina Band members living on the rancheria opposed the project on their lands and wrote letters to that effect. They were told by tribal leaders, who do not live on the rancheria, to stop their opposition and were threatened with expulsion from the rancheria if they did not.

The Cortina Band is a sovereign nation, not subject to state or local land use regulations. It is subject to oversight by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the lease was subject to approval by the BIA. The BIA commissioned an Environmental Impact Statement as required under NEPA, and approved the lease in 2000, with the understanding that the band had to get other federal approvals prior to construction.
During the NEPA process, the County submitted extensive comments regarding inadequacies in the EIS. The county sued in federal court contesting findings, impacts, and mitigation measures. The litigation was stayed pending settlement negotiations, but the Board and the tribe could not reach agreement. Then, on October 31, 2006, the County dropped the lawsuit against the Band due to lack of funds to continue.
In 1998, Colusa County passed a ballot measure that requires a two-thirds approval for any garbage landfill projects. It appears that Earthworks Industries is using the Cortina Band and their sovereign land status to circumvent local laws and regulations governing projects of this type.
The Yolano Group studied this proposal and voted to oppose it. The proposal violates several National Sierra Club policies related to land fill projects in location, regulation and monitoring, design to protect human health and the environment from toxic leachates and methane gas, and siting to minimize threats to ground and surface waters, soil and air.

This landfill is proposed for essentially untouched open space with 100s of acres of wild canyons, habitat, streams and agricultural land. The Cortina tribal lands sit in the eastern Coastal Range foothills above the Sacramento Valley. This project poses several hazards to the people and the agriculture in the valley below, including the potential for toxics to enter the watershed of nearby Cortina Creek. The dump sites are in canyons whose watershed feeds into creeks and ultimately to the Colusa Drain which empties into the Sacramento River at Knights Landing.

Liners proposed for the project consist of a compacted clay or geo-synthetic clay layer and layers of synthetic materials. If the synthetic liners are compromised in any way, leachate will eventually find its way through the compacted clay to ground and surface waters. We recently learned that the waste management company intends to ask for waivers to the lining standards. If the standards are waived, leachate will move from the landfill to ground and surface waters that provide drinking and irrigation water to the people of Colusa County and downstream.

Monitoring incoming waste consists of inspecting one truck per week (out of roughly 420), by a member of the Wintun tribe, not a professional. Therefore, the dumping would be essentially unregulated. This could result in toxic or otherwise unacceptable waste entering the landfill, which could then find its way into the drinking water of citizens who utilize the waters from this water shed.
At a well-attended and passionate meeting of the Colusa County Board of Supervisors last week, it became clear that the best remaining hope to thwart the plans for this landfill is to appeal to federal agencies. The landfill proposal still requires the okay from federal regulators, in particular those dealing with protecting clean air and water. The supervisors and anti-land fill groups will now appeal to federal lawmakers and environmental agencies to stop or reshape the project to protect water supplies. At this point, it appears that federal agencies, such as the EPA, and members of Congress are the only ones that can stop the project.

Contact Colusa County supervisors regarding this issue and encourage them to seek federal support. Send your message for the supervisors to the county clerk at cocolusa@countyofcolusa.org.
Contact your members of Congress.
Senator Feinstein: Phone: 202-224-3841; FAX: 202-228-3954; email: http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?.
Senator Boxer: Phone: 202-224-3553; FAX: 202-228-2382; email: http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm.
Representative Mike Thompson: Phone: 202-225-3311; FAX: 202-225-4335.
Representative Wally Herger: Phone 202-225-3076; FAX: 202-226-0852; email: www.house.gov/herger/contact.shtml.
Ask them to do what they can to stop this project. Ask them to pressure EPA to stop or reshape this project to protect the ground and surface waters in this watershed from this landfill proposal.