Two public agencies still fighting over compost plant
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

The future of the $50 million Rancho Las Virgenes Composting Facility in Calabasas lies in the balance as the rift between the two public agencies that own the plant continues to widen.

The six-year-old composting facility needs a major overhaul to prevent recurring odors that are said to be bothering local residents, but officials with Triunfo Sanitation District (TSD), the agency that serves Oak Park, Lake Sherwood and North Ranch, say the plant would cost $3 million a year after the renovation and that shipping the sludge out on trucks would be cheaper.

Under a 26-year-old joint venture agreement between the two agencies, TSD is required to pay a third of the Rancho costs.

Earlier this month, TSD told the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) that trucking the sludge would cost only $240,000 per year under a plan submitted by McCarthy Family Farms, Inc., a hauling firm of Bakersfield and Tulare.

Another $500,000 would be spent under the plan to build a "wet scrubber," a device that deodorizes sludge before it’s hauled, according to TSD officials.

They fear LVMWD will spend double that amount fixing the plant’s biofilter, a device used to stop smells during the composting process.

"Whatever kind of odor control facility you have, you’re going to either have to spend [money] on a chemical scrubber or on a biofilter," said Jim Colbaugh, LVMWD general manager.

Colbaugh said TSD’s prediction on the cost of sludge hauling is too low.

"You can’t just not do something with an odor control facility. We can throw the biofilter out and spend a million dollars on a wet scrubber. I don’t know what good that does you," Colbaugh said.

The LVMWD Board of Directors ordered Colbaugh to keep the composting in operation and begin renovating the biofilter. Plans for the work will be presented to the LVMWD Board of Directors on Nov. 14.

TSD officials say they’ve been kept in the dark over the issue of costs and that it would be cheaper to ship the sludge out of Rancho for composting elsewhere.

"We request a complete, accurate, and quantified evaluation of off-site composting of biosolids [sludge] from Rancho Las Virgenes in order for both boards to make an informed decision," said TSD chairman of the board Ron Stark in a letter to Gordon Knopp, LVMWD’s chairman.

"We look at it from an economical point of view with regard to the ratepayers," said Bill Smith, interim general manager for Triunfo. "Nobody has ever proved that composting is a better alternative.’’

As the partnership soured, TSD filed a lawsuit last January charging that LVWMD usurped important decision making powers in the relationship.

"The question is over bills. Do we have a say in how these bills are paid? Is it an open check book?" Smith asked.

LVMWD filed a counter suit seeking to dissolve the partnership altogether, but to do so would require an environmental review that could cost taxpayers up to $2 million, according to TSD officials

A trial in Ventura County Superior Court is scheduled for March 2001.

"We would never expect any damage to any customer, and Triunfo, as a result of dissolving the joint venture," Colbaugh said.

But the way the two agencies do business will forever change.

"It would be very straightforward, much more straightforward than it is now," Knopp said.

TSD would continue to provide sewer and water services to its Ventura County customers while LVMWD does the same in Los Angeles County, but because TSD owns 30 percent of the Rancho composting plant and the reclaimed water system in Las Virgenes territory, TSD would receive so-called "capacity credits" under a new billing arrangement with LVMWD.

"There are pipes in Los Angeles County that we don’t get water through and we have paid for the construction and maintenance of those pipes," said John Mathews, TSD’s general counsel.

Now, customers are beginning to ask questions.

"We have ratepayers concerned about their rates and what’s being done," Mathews said.

While officials on both sides are promising rates for customers won’t change if the partnership is dissolved, the cost for the legal battle already has begun to mount.