The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a contentious revised resource-recovery project planned for implementation at the Tajiguas Landfill that opponents claim is financially irresponsible and won’t benefit the community.

“This is a crazy amount of money, and who is going to pay for it? Our kids,” said Nancy Black, who sits on the Gaviota Coast Conservancy, but told the board she was speaking as a mom. “I think we could do much better with far less.”

The project’s price tag has recently jumped from an estimated $111 million to more than $130 million to more than $130 million, with construction to be financed through 20-year bonds issued by the county.

Last July, the supervisors approved a contract with MSB Investors LLC to design, build and operate facilities at the landfill, which sits in a canyon on the Gaviota Coast.

As planned, the expansion includes two new facilities. One would sort recyclables and organic waste from trash. The other would convert organic waste into compostable materials and biogas, the latter of which will be used to generate electricity.

Bonds to finance the project are expected to be repaid through generation of revenue at the landfill, including the sale of electricity, and an increase in tipping fees charged to trash haulers serving the county’s unincorporated areas and the cities — Santa Barbara, Goleta, Solvang and Buellton — that bring their solid waste to the landfill.

Phil McKenna, who also sits on the Gaviota Coast Conservancy board, which is opposed to the planned expansion at the Tajiguas Landfill, called the financing plan “irresponsible” and said it wouldn’t win approval outside board chambers.

“If this was offered in the private marketplace, it would immediately be laughed out,” McKenna said, noting he was a retired financial planner. “The county bears all the financial risk.”

In addition to financing woes, opponents are also concerned about the reliability of the planned anaerobic digestion technology to be used at the landfill, and believe had the county pursued better, more ambitious recycling programs years ago, the need to extend the current facility’s lifespan would have been avoided.

Without the project, the landfill would be slated to close in 2026. The expansion will extend that date to 2036.

To read the full story, visit https://www.noozhawk.com/article/county_supervisors_approve_revised_resource_recovery_project_for_tajiguas_l.

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