Local Enforcement Agency Correspondence

Communication Concerning Exotic Newcastle Disease Outbreak in Southern California

Date: October 24, 2002

To: All Local Enforcement Agencies

This all LEA E-mail was sent on behalf of Bernie Vlach and the LEA Support Services Branch of the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

Exotic Newcastle Disease has been identified in certain populations of "show fowl" in Southern California earlier this month. This e-mail is being sent to advise you that, should the epidemic worsen, some of you may be asked to process waivers of solid waste facilities permit conditions in order to assist in the eradication of the disease. These requests for waivers would come from operators of solid waste landfills pursuant to a declaration of local or state-wide emergency, or without a declaration of emergency pursuant to the unforeseen consequences of the epidemic.

Attached are links to LEA Advisories on this subject previously transmitted. Some of you have already utilized the emergency waiver process and are familiar with it. If you are not familiar with the waiver process, please take some time to become familiar with it now as time will be of the essence if the epidemic should worsen.

Also attached is a brief report prepared on October 22, 2002, by staff participating in the Ontario Exotic Newcastle Project.

If you have any questions about the status of the Ontario Exotic Newcastle Project, please contact Bob Holmes (916-341-6376). If you have questions relating to the waiver process please contact Mark De Bie (916-341-6331).

Other information available on our web site:

• Advisory for Emergency Waiver of Standards  
• Disaster Assistance Guide (not quite for this situation)
• The Emergency Regulations for Temporary Waiver (PEP) (Word 97, 50 KB)

Additional information may be found at the California Department of Food and Agriculture website including Newcastle information and an October 3rd press release 

Report on Activities of the Ontario Exotic Newcastle Project-- October 22, 2002

Exotic Newcastle is a highly contagious, viral, avian disease. The virus does not infect humans and poses no direct public health threat. The economic consequences of the disease to the commercial poultry industry in the United States are potentially catastrophic. Eradication requires the identification and destruction of whole populations of infected animals and the proper disposal of the animals, their manure and any other undisinfectable material.

An incident command center was set up on October 2, 2002, in a gymnasium on a military base in Los Alamitos. The scope of the command center is significant. With over 150 people and a lot of modern equipment it is clear to see that this is serious business. The command center is organized and operated by the State Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the State Office of Emergency Services. Representatives of the US Department of Agriculture are there also.  Project funding is from both the CDFA and the USDA.

The project team needed help in two areas:

• Logistical help with transportation and disposal of destroyed birds, manure and undisinfectable material;
• Regulatory help to ease certain conditions at disposal facilities.

The Operations Officer explained that they project team needs help with the logistics of transportation and disposal of waste materials from their operations. He also explained that the scope of the operation could increase a hundred-fold or more if the disease should spread into the commercial chicken and egg ranches in Southern California with over 12 million birds, as it did in 1972.  (Currently the disease seems to be limited to "show fowl" populations.) The project team is developing a contingency plan for a contract solid waste manager who would be responsible for the logistics of transportation and disposal of infected waste materials should the epidemic worsen.

The contract solid waste manager would be located at the command center and be an ad hoc member of the operations team. That person would have to be knowledgeable of the myriad transportation and disposal options available, be able to make recommendations about the numbers and types of vehicles, materials and equipment needed to do the job on any particular day, and be able to summon those resources on short notice. The person would also recommend to which landfill or incinerator the waste material should be taken.

The Operations Officer also asked for assistance with relaxing operating restrictions at certain Southern California landfills. In particular he was concerned about the queuing of vehicles, and the unpredictable operating hours of some of the facilities. He hoped that the facilities would allow vehicles with waste materials from his operations to enter through a separate gate to avoid the queue. He also hoped that the facilities would not turn away his vehicles because limits had been reached.

Facility operators would need to ask their LEA to waive these restrictions due to the unforeseen circumstances of the epidemic. Pursuant to regulation the LEA may prepare a stipulated agreement defined in Title 14, California Code of Regulations, Section 17211.1(a) that provides a temporary waiver of specific terms and conditions of a solid waste facilities permit during a temporary emergency. Alternatively, the county Public Health Officer, Animal Health Officer or other authorized local government body could declare a state of local emergency (14 CCR 17210 et seq.) which would allow certain disposal restrictions to be waived. The Governor may also call a state of local emergency in any county. In the end the landfill operator would need to agree to the changes unless ordered by government authorities to do otherwise due to a state of emergency or martial law.

Thank you,
Melissa Hoover-Hartwick
LEA Support Services
(916) 341-6813

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