Haul It Away? Big Delays, As State Not Ready To Allow Haul-Offs
Written by 991KBU on November 28, 2018
Clearing debris from Malibu is not going to start soon.
Huge delays … as the state has not even begun to inspect for hazmat stuff … banned from the dump.
The state Department of Toxic Substance Control has not even begun inspecting the 1600 houses destroyed by fire in Malibu and in the Conejo Valley.
Four hundred and 75 of those houses are in Malibu.
The city is finding itself helpless to speed up process.
Los Angeles county health officials have declared a public health emergency … and they are refusing to allow fire debris to be take into any landfills until it can be inspected for hazardous materials.
Lead … paint … ammunition and other toxic materials cannot be accepted by the local landfills.
Toxic materials must be taken to a certified toxic waste dump.
Those are in central California.
City manager Reva Feldman says she has investigated declaring the entire city of Malibu to be toxic waste … to have all the stuff carted to a toxic waste dump.
That would be prohibitively expensive … probably illegal … Feldman tells KBUU news.
That means Malibu has to get in line with the rest of Southern California to wait for state inspectors.
When will they arrive??
It was supposed to happen Monday.
It hasn’t happened yet.
A command post is being set up at King Gillette Ranch.
It’s not clear when the first Malibu homes will be inspected.
It’s not clear when the first all clear reports will be issued … or what the process will be for that … whether some neighborhoods will be cleared before others.
The city of Malibu has contracted with a company … California recycles … to do the work at no charge to residents.
That project cannot even begin … until the state starts clearing areas.
