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I methane under control I Record.-t.com Page 1 of I <br /> News <br /> LANDFILL METHANE UNDER CONTROL <br /> FACILITY REMOVED FROM STATE AGENCY'S LIST OF VIOLATORS <br /> By Alex Breitler <br /> March 06,2011 <br /> Record Staff Writer <br /> STOCKTON -The county's largest landfill has stopped the spread of explosive methane gas, earning its removal <br /> from a state agency's list of landfills violating standards. <br /> Privately-owned Forward Landfill grappled with the methane problem for much of 2010. Inspections revealed an <br /> excess of underground methane gas at the landfill from May through November. <br /> As a result, for the second time, Forward was placed on a state list of offenders. <br /> Landfill officials then built six large gas-extraction wells -and a number of smaller ones -to collect the excess gas, <br /> which is either burned off or used to generate power. <br /> "I think it relieved enough pressure that we don't see the gas migrating as we did in the past,"said Kevin Basso, <br /> general manager of Allied Waste Services,which operates Forward. "It's good to be off the list, and we'll continue <br /> to monitor(the methane)." <br /> Officials have said the excess methane was detected by a probe on the south side of what was formerly the city- <br /> owned Austin Road landfill, on the edge of a tomato field. Basso has said the gas posed no health or safety <br /> concern, though its concentration exceeded state standards by nearly 10 times in the most extreme case. <br /> In a Feb. 17 letter, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery notified Basso that Forward <br /> Landfill would be removed from the list of offenders. <br /> Even with the methane problem resolved for now, Forward will continue with plans to move gas-monitoring probes <br /> onto a portion of land that county planning commissioners recently agreed to include within the landfill's boundary, <br /> Basso said Wednesday. <br /> Forward has previously proposed expanding its operations onto that land but insisted that its recent request to <br /> enlarge its boundaries was merely to place probes to monitor the migration of methane gas. <br /> Moving the probes is"still the right thing to do," Basso said. <br /> Contact reporter Alex Breitler at(209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at <br /> recordnet.com/breitlerblog. <br /> http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110306/A NEWS/103060320&cid=sitesearch&te... 3/10/2011 <br />