GOCHA has been fighting development at the landfill for years. As the biggest threat to the beauty, safety, and property values within our canyon, we feel that any development or expansion of the landfill should be strongly opposed. We need everyone in the canyon to be active and participate in anyway you can to help fight future development.

In addition to the help we are seeking below, we will also gladly accept any donations to GOCHA’s Landfill Legal Fund. These funds are earmarked specifically to fight this development. You can donate here.

Draft EIR for Biogas Project at Scholl

Observations, Concerns and a Call for Help

The draft Environmental Impact Report for the Biogas Renewable Generation (power plant) project at the Scholl Canyon Landfill was released on July 2, 2020. It can be found at glendalebiogasgeneration.com/#draft-eir. The public response period will be open for 90 days, until September 30, 2020.

Members of the Coalition for Landfill Alternatives and other volunteer experts have been working on responses to the EIR, but we can use more assistance particularly in the areas of native plants, hazards, air quality, transportation/traffic, and alternatives for using landfill gas.  Please contact Marie Freeman at mfreeman304@gmail.com or Jackie Gish at jackiegish@charter.net if you can help us.  

BACKGROUND

Baseline Project:  Glendale Water and Power proposes to put 4 engines at Scholl to convert landfill gas into about 12 MegaWatts of electricity.

Alternatives: The EIR compares the baseline project to four alternatives:

1. Continue to flare all landfill gas at Scholl.

2. Clean the gas to natural gas standards and inject it into a natural gas pipeline (involves building a 1/3-mile pipeline from Grayson to a gas company pipe).

3. Clean the gas and compress it for use as vehicle fuel.

4. Send partially cleaned landfill gas to Grayson where it would be burned and converted to electricity. 

Initial Thoughts on the Alternatives: Although the EIR does not present enough details about the alternatives to make reasonable comparisons, the work group believes that Alternative 2 has promise and deserves more review.  It could be superior to the other alternatives in nearly all categories, most importantly in aesthetics, air quality, biological impacts, water contamination, and wildfire. A goal is to avoid burning gas in internal combustion engines or turbines at Scholl or at Grayson.    

Our Major Concerns: Currently, our major concerns, among others, are noise, threats to air quality, fire, and proximity to earthquake faults. 

Response Plans: We plan to have draft findings and conclusions by the end of July or early August. From these, we will produce position papers with goal statements, “asks,” and model letters to circulate to the general public. For more information contact Marla Nelson (marlanelsoncreative@gmail.com), Joan Morris  (joanmorris@gmail.com) or Marie Freeman (mfreeman304@gmail.com).

If you want to comment directly to the City of Glendale, send written comments to

Erik Krause
Deputy Director of Community Development
City of Glendale, Community Development Department
633 East Broadway, Room 103
Glendale, CA 91206-4386

fax (818)240-0392
email ekrause@glendaleca.gov

Comments must be received prior to the close of the 90-day public review period at 5:00 p.m. on September 30, 2020.