ARCHIVED REPORTS_2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

III. ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES G. PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY Element,m nt, w hach was approved by the CIWMB an 1995. The incorporated cities participate with the County in the countywide HHW program which is administered by the San Joaquin County Public Works Department Division of Solid Waste. The County's HHW program includes outreach to households and businesses (small-quantity generators)via newspaper ads,postcard mailers, flyers and posters,and sponsorship of one-,two-, and three-day collection events held at sites throughout the county over the course of a year. A permanent collection site is currently being planned (Hudson, 1999). A waste composition study conducted by the City of Stockton in 1991 indicated that HHW accounted for 0.22 percent of the refuse taken to local landfills for disposal from residential, commercial, industrial, and self haul sources. In that study, HHW constituted 0.18 percent of the refuse from residential collections and 0.63 percent of self haul wastes(the source with the highest fraction of HHW in that study) (City of Stockton, 1992). IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES SIGNIFICANCE CRITERIA According to CEQA Guidelines(Appendix G), a project may have a significant adverse impact on the environment if it would "[c)reate a significant hazard to the public or the environment through the routine transport, use, or disposal of hazardous materials"; if it would"create a significant hazard to the public or the environment through reasonably foreseeable upset and accident conditions involving the release of hazardous materials into the environment, or if it would"impair implementation of or physically interfere with emergency response plan or emergency evacuation plan." IMPACT STATEMENTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES li Impact G.1: Accidental or inadvertent delivery e Ivery of household hazardous waste commingled with nonhazardous refuse could pose health or safety threats to workers at the transfer station or to the environment upon improper disposal. (Significant) Because delivery of household hazardous wastes(HEW)commingled with refuse is not uncommon at waste handling installations, some HHW and small amounts of hazardous commercial wastes are likely to be delivered to the transfer station concealed or mixed with trash. Improper disposal of concealed hazardous wastes is illegal and would not be permitted at the project site. Without a loadchecking program, hazardous waste in an incoming load would not only be a hazard to the environment at the ultimate disposal site, but could also be an immediate and perhaps unexpected hazard to employees working with incoming loads. For example, workers could be exposed directly to corrosive or ignitable chemicals,or hazardous waste subsequently disposed improperly in a Class III landfill could degrade the quality of the landfall leachate, and threaten groundwater. Stockton Scavenger Transfer Station Erpansion III.G.4 ESA/990190