Reid to Gibbons: Keep 1 million tons of trash out of Nevada

By Lisa Mascaro

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009 | 2:24 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today urged Gov. Jim Gibbons to intervene in a San Francisco-based company’s plans to ship 1 million tons of California trash annually to a new landfill in Winnemucca, calling it a threat to the state’s dignity.

In a letter today, Reid said the proposal would substantially increase the amount of out-of-state trash being dumped in Nevada and urged Gibbons to “use every available authority to stop this threat to Nevada’s sovereignty and dignity.”

The landfill proposal won conditional approval from the Humboldt County Planning Commission in Winnemucca, allowing it to apply for permits from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.

The proposal has divided the desert community east of Reno, according to news reports.

The dump proposed for the desert playa could bring $1 million annually and 25 new jobs. But other residents believe the square-mile mountain of trash could be a health hazard.

The state should “deny the proposed dump all environmental permits thus protecting the residents of Winnemucca and Humboldt County and the playa,” Reid wrote.

Reid encouraged the governor to contact him “if there is anything I can help the state do to find other economic development opportunities in and near Winnemucca which don’t require creating an unnecessary environmental and public health hazard that will last for generations.”