Politics

Questions Arise Over Private Operation Of Miramar Landfill

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published July 9, 2010 at 10:25 AM PDT

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

Food waste at the Miramar Landfill. The mayor's office is looking at outsourcing operations at the city-owned Miramar Landfill. The city council learned about the plan at its meeting on May 25, 2010.

Questions Arise Over Private Operation Of Miramar Landfill

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said he wants to sell the Miramar Landfill, but some people say privatizing the landfill may create an environmental problem.

The City of San Diego has put out a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), which is the first step toward getting a private operator to take over the Miramar Landfill.

The city has operated the landfill since 1959 on land leased from the federal government.

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Murtaza Baxamusa with the Center on Policy Initiatives in San Diego said the city's request for proposals does not include the same environmental operating standards the city has used.

"We are quite significantly concerned about the quality of how the management of that landfill will result in a deterioration of our water and our air," said Baxamusa.

The City Council has the final say whether any proposals are accepted.

Councilwoman Donna Frye said she likes the idea of selling the landfill, but she's not happy with the possibility that environmental standards could be less stringent under private operation.

Frye also said the council was not briefed and there was not an opportunity for San Diego residents to comment on the idea before the city posted the RFQ.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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