The long-awaited draft environmental impact report for Waste Management’s proposed expansion of the Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center was released last week.

The 570-page document, with nearly 2,000 pages of attached appendices, analyzes the project’s impacts on traffic, air quality, natural resources and aesthetics. It took 16 months to complete.

Dan Klemann, manager of the commercial and industrial permit section for Ventura County, expressed his confidence in the report. The EIR was prepared in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act by a third-party consultant that the county hired.

“We worked very hard to make sure it is legally adequate,” he said. “We feel it does a good job of analyzing the impacts and providing the decision-makers with a reasonable range of alternatives for the project.”

The document is currently available for public review and comment.

The draft EIR identified “unavoidably significant impacts” regarding air quality, agricultural resources, paleontological resources and visual resources.

The document also identified “potentially significant but mitigable impacts” relating to flood hazards, biological resources, glare, archaeological resources, hazardous materials, demand for housing and recreational facilities.

Waste Management’s efforts to create a larger landfill have been in the works for more than two years.

The company submitted its application to the county for the modernization and expansion of the landfill in April 2007.

In May 2008, the county Board of Supervisors approved a contract with San Diego-based consultant Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to prepare the environmental report.

WM’s proposed expansion would triple the size of the landfill to 887 acres, double the disposable trash intake to 6,000 tons per day and relocate G.I. Rubbish from its current facilities on West Los Angeles Avenue to the landfill site.

The company has said expansion is necessary to keep trash invisible from the 118 Freeway and to remain profitable while still meeting government regulations.

The rubbish hauling company also wants to improve existing facilities by adding a household hazardous waste collection center and a facility to transform methane gas into liquefied natural gas for truck fuel.

As of Tuesday morning, Lisa Hemenway, community relations manager for the landfill, said WM’s team of experts was examining the EIR.

“Overall it’s a good document but it’s going to take us a little bit to go through it, to review it,” she said. “Right now, we’re pleased about the release of the document, and we look forward to the community’s input on the expansion project.”

Though she had yet to begin reviewing the document, City Councilmember Barbra Williamson is also interested in hearing what the community thinks. In 2007, she formed the Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force, an advisory committee of citizens that she leads in an unofficial capacity.

“From everything I hear, nobody wants the expansion of that landfill,” Williamson said.

She added that the task force will be getting together soon to review the report and formulate its comments.

City Manager Mike Sedell said the city would also be examining the comprehensive document very closely.

“The City Council is very concerned that the project, as proposed, has the least negative impact or the most positive impact on the community,” he said, “and ultimately the council’s decision will be based on a weighing of those factors.”

Right now, Sedell said, the city’s role is not to take a position on the project but to ensure that all the environmental concerns have been covered and, if they haven’t, to ask questions of the county and its consultant.

Because the landfill sits on unincorporated county land just outside the city’s immediate sphere of influence, the county, not the city, has final say on the proposed expansion. However, the city can comment on the project and will use its extraterritorial review process to compile questions and concerns from the neighborhood councils, planning commission and City Council.

Once the consultant’s response to the comments is released, the council will take a position on the project, Sedell said.

Waste Management’s expansion proposal will ultimately be approved or denied by the Board of Supervisors.

The public review period for the draft EIR is now open.

To provide input for consideration as part of the final report, written comments must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. Wed., Nov. 11 to Case Planner Becky Linder at Ventura County Resource Management Agency, Planning Division, 800 S. Victoria Ave., No. 1740, Ventura, CA 93009-1740.

Comments may be e-mailed to becky.linder@ventura.org.

Public comments and the county’s responses will be incorporated into a final document that will be presented in three different public hearings to an environmental report review committee, the county planning commission and the Board of Supervisors.

The landfill hearings will be at the government center in Ventura.

A copy of the draft EIR is available on the county’s website at www.ventura.org/rma/planning/ceqa/eir.html.

Hard copies can also be obtained at the Ventura County Resource Management Agency, Planning Division at the Ventura County Government Center Hall of Administration or at Simi Valley City Hall at 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.