Reid wants landfill study

CARSON CITY -- U.S. Sen. Harry Reid is seeking funding to study the environmental impact that a proposed landfill near Winnemucca and tons of imported trash from California would have on Northern Nevada rivers and aquifers.

Reid, D-Nev., on Tuesday introduced an amendment to the Interior Department's appropriation bill to fund a study by the U.S. Geological Survey on seepage from trash at the Jungo Disposal site.

A California company, Recology, proposes to haul 20 tons of garbage weekly from Northern California to the site for 95 years.

The company received a conditional special-use permit by the Humboldt County Regional Planning Agency two years ago, but a citizens group is fighting the project. The project still needs state environmental permits.

Recology spokesman Adam Alberti has said the employee-owned company is environmentally friendly, with an 89-year history of operating safe landfills.

"We don't want to jam it down their throats," Alberti told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in an earlier report. "It will not pose any health risks. We are dealing with household waste. We are working to build trust in the community."

Reid said the study would evaluate how long it would take seepage from the dump to contaminate local water resources and how far contamination would travel over the next two centuries.

"The proposal to dump mountains of California trash in our state -- one full train load five days a week for the next 95 years -- is a clear environmental and public health hazard," Reid said in a statement.

He called the plan a "threat to Nevada's sovereignty and dignity."