SB 1208 – Waste Discharge Permits: Landfills
The Tijuana River has become the environmental and social justice crisis of this generation. Due to decades of inaction on both sides of the border, millions of gallons of untreated sewage and trash flow down its banks each day. The pollution originates in Tijuana and travels through the Tijuana River Estuary on the U.S. side before contaminating the Pacific Ocean near the City of Imperial Beach.
The pollutants have decimated critical wetland ecosystems to the brink of collapse, caused the closure of several south San Diego County beaches, and led to significant health issues for the underserved communities that surround the river . These communities of San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, and Nestor have sco red among the state’s most burdened on CalEnviroscreen 4.0. The addition of another major stressor to this border region would be environmentally hazardous and socially unjust.
Despite the already existing crisis, private developers have proposed to construct a new landfill in San Diego County’s East Otay Mesa, just north of the U.S. -Mexico border and within the Tij uana River watershed, exacerbating the current environmental and social justice issues. The landfill could lead to more beach closures, more harm to the environment, and more injustice for vulnerabl e border communities. Additionally, s tudies show that the landfill is unnecessary as San Diego County has more than 30 years of capacity remaining in existing landfills1. The environmental an d social costs of constructing new, unnecessary landfills are far too great to bear if sufficient disposal capacity remains to meet the region’s needs. Despite these concerns, developers could break ground as soon as this year.
SB 1208 would prohibit a re gional water board from issuing a waste discharge permit for a new landfill that is used for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste if the land is located within the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve or within an area that is tributary to the Tijuana River. The bill would also expand the definition of “landfill used for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste” to also include a disposal site regulated by a regional water board as a Class II landfill.
Staff Contact
Name: Cece Sidley
Title: Senate Fellow
Email: [email protected]
Capitol Office: (916) 651 – 4018
1 County of San Diego Department of Public Works. County of San Diego Five-Year Review Report of the Countywide Integrated Waste Management Plan. CIWMP, June 2022,
https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/dam/sdc/dpw/SOLID_WASTE_PLANNING_and_RECYCLING/Files/2022%20Five - Year%20Review.pdf.
Support
Chair Nora Vargas, San Diego County Board of
Supervisors
Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Imperial Beach
Councilmember Matthew Leyba-Gonzalez,
Imperial Beach
Councilmember Jose Preciado, Chula Vista
Councilmember Carolina Chavez, Chula Vista
Councilmember Marcus Bush, National City
Roberto Alcantar, Southwestern College
San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council
San Diego Coastkeeper
San Diego Democrats for Environmental Action
Casa Familiar
Climate Action Campaign
Center for Biological Diversity
Californians Against Waste
Endangered Habitats League
Protect Otay Foothills
SD 350
San Diego Audubon Society
San Diego Native Plant Society
La Voz Demócrata