CIWMB Press Room Archives

State Fines City of Ridgecrest Over Waste Diversion:
High desert city has failed to comply with Waste Board directives

SACRAMENTO--The California Integrated Waste Management Board today fined the City of Ridgecrest (Kern County) $47,580 for failing to adequately implement its mandated waste diversion program as required by the 1989 California Integrated Waste Management Act, which requires all cities and counties to divert at least 50 percent of solid waste away from landfills.

“This Board has always sought first to work in partnership with local jurisdictions before considering the imposition of fines that are provided for in the law,” said Board Chair Margo Reid Brown. “But nearly 20 years after the diversion mandate was enacted, and with successful compliance by the vast majority of jurisdictions, Ridgecrest has yet to take the steps needed to comply with the law and thus we were compelled to take this action.”

After a lengthy hearing and testimony from city and Kern County representatives the Waste Board issued the following decision:

• The Board is imposing a one-time penalty of $47,580 for failure to meet the terms of the Compliance Order, based upon a fine in the amount of $780 per day, beginning from the date of the original Penalty Hearing Notice (1/23/09) through the date of today’s hearing (3/24/09).
• In recognition of the City’s efforts in the last month prior to today’s hearing, only $20,000 of this penalty shall be due immediately.
• The remaining $27,580 of this fine shall be held in abeyance to ensure compliance with the remainder of the Board’s Order.
• The Board is further directing staff to work with the City to develop a revised Local Assistance Plan that shall be agreed to by the City and submitted by May 29, 2009, that includes all of the tasks in the existing Plan with revised dates, and the new tasks the City indicated they would add, with full implementation of all tasks by January 4, 2010.
• In addition, the revised Local Assistance Plan shall include a one-year monitoring period following the full implementation of the revised Local Assistance Plan.
• If the City fails to fully implement the revised Local Assistance Plan by January 4, 2010, the $27,580 held in abeyance shall be imposed upon the City, and the City shall be liable to an additional daily penalty in the amount of $1,950 per day until the City achieves full implementation.

“It is our hope that by continuing to work aggressively with the City of Ridgecrest, and holding them accountable for these compliance measures, their efforts will meet with success and they will become a full partner in meeting California’s recycling mandate,” said Chair Brown.

The compliance order required the city to coordinate with Board staff to develop and submit a Local Assistance Plan by Jan. 31, 2008, the plan included establishing a 2006 or newer base year study, implementing mandatory residential and commercial recycling programs, and fully implementing the plan by Jan. 31, 2010.

The compliance order requirements that have not been implemented by the city’s deadlines include establishing a new base year, and completing a feasibility study for a local materials recovery facility. In addition to these missed deadlines, the city has also acknowledged that it will not be able to meet the upcoming March 31 deadline to implement its residential and commercial recycling programs.

The California Public Resources Code requires each city, county, or regional waste agency to develop a solid waste diversion plan, showing how it will divert at least 50 percent of its solid waste by January 1, 2000, through source reduction, recycling, and composting activities.

The Waste Board is required to review those plans at least every two years. The Board is required to issue a compliance order to local jurisdictions that fail to implement their waste diversion plan, and the Public Resources Code authorizes the Waste Board to impose civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day if the local jurisdiction fails to make a good faith effort to implement the plan.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is the state's leading authority on recycling and waste reduction. It promotes reducing waste whenever possible, managing all materials to their highest and best use and protecting public health and safety and the environment.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is one of six boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).

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