One of the largest conservation groups in the country has its sights set on Orange County’s Prima Deschecha landfill, questioning if county officials should move forward with plans to double the amount of trash going there every day.
Conservationists say the landfill expansion could threaten the local mountain lion population in South OC by destroying their habitat – potentially driving OC’s large felines to extinction.
The questions come after a series of residents raised complaints, highlighting that the landfill expansion is already carrying a massive impact on their neighborhoods with increasing traffic, air pollution and noise.
[Read: South OC Residents Rally Against County Plans to Dump Tons of Trash on Them]
The plan is also facing questions from several cities near the landfill about how mitigation of the construction and traffic will be handled, submitting multiple complaints about the county’s environmental review of the plan.
Read: Thousands of South OC Residents Question County Plans to Expand Prima Deshecha Landfill
Now, those questions are being joined by the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the county’s largest environmental nonprofits with over 1.8 million members and a history of activism and litigation.
In a May 29 letter to the county, staff from the center raised questions over the landfill’s impact on nearby mountain lions.
“The mountain lion population in the Project area is facing an extinction vortex driven by habitat loss and fragmentation, vehicle strikes, rodenticide poisoning, disease, and other causes,” wrote Scott Coberg, a legal fellow for the Center. “The Project will further destroy habitat, degrade connectivity, and drive the local mountain lion population closer to extinction.”
Read: Lack of Fencing Along Ortega Highway Kills Two More Mountain Lions in OC
County staff from the OC Waste and Recycling division declined to comment on the letter Monday morning.
Coberg noted that the existing environmental plans don’t do enough to help mountain lions that were recently “protected under the California Endangered Species Act,” according to his letter.
The Santa Ana population has the lowest genetic diversity documented for the species aside from the endangered Florida panthers,” Coberg wrote. “Scientists predict that if further genetic isolation and inbreeding depression occur, this population has a 100% chance of becoming locally extinct within 50 years.”
In his letter, Coberg noted that the county’s last environmental study for the landfill was in 2007, years before the studies highlighting the problems facing mountain lions were completed, and that the county needs to examine how their work will impact mountain lions.
She also noted the center could be headed toward legal action.
“Given the possibility that the Center will be required to pursue legal remedies in order to ensure that the County complies with its legal obligations including those arising under CEQA, we would like to remind the County of its statutory duty to maintain and preserve all documents and communications that may constitute part of the ‘administrative record,’” Coberg wrote.
In a statement to Voice of OC, Coberg said the center had not yet made a decision to move forward with litigation, but noted that the county needs to update its review regardless.
“Mountain lions are a threatened species in Southern California, which means the county must be thorough in considering the landfill expansion’s consequences for sensitive habitat,” Coberg wrote.
“Using an environmental review that’s nearly 20 years old and that focused on a much smaller operation just doesn’t cut it. I urge the county to update its review so it reflects today’s realities.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
