Why is the Mesquite Regional Landfill proposing to use trucks to bring in waste?
The proposal to truck a portion of the waste to the Mesquite Regional Landfill (MRL) developed as a way to start landfill operations sooner and as a way to create more flexibility in the long -range development of MRL. An alternate means of transportation is needed because the rail infrastructure necessary to move the waste will not be completed until 2011/2012, however, the landfill will be ready for operations in 2009. Another reason that trucking is being proposed is to allow waste-by-rail transport operations to “ramp” up to a full or “unit” train. A full train will carry 4,000 tons of waste. Eventually, up to five unit trains will move the 20,000 tons of nonhazardous residential and commercial waste the MRL is permitted to receive. Of that total, 1,000 tons is reserved for Imperial County. The Sanitation District of Los Angeles County anticipates it will not likely need to move 4,000 tons of waste daily until after 2013, when its Puente Hills Landfill in Whittier closes. In the lo
