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Five Facts About the Safety of the Kettleman Hills Facility

  1. The Kettleman Hills Facility, operated by Waste Management (WM), is one of the most heavily regulated facilities – in one of the most heavily regulated industries – in California. Strict federal, state, and local regulations include comprehensive air‐quality protection and groundwater programs at the site, as well as daily, weekly, quarterly and annual inspections and regular reports to elected officials and regulatory authorities.
  2. The Kettleman Hills Facility is an environmentally protective facility. WM has in place a comprehensive Environmental Management Program at the Kettleman Hills Facility to help ensure compliance with regulatory and corporate requirements. Just since 2007, four different local, state and federal entities have studied WM’s facility and all concluded that it does not impact local residents. These findings continue a 30-year track record of protecting human health and the environment.
  3. The Kettleman Hills Facility is not adversely impacting water for the residents of Kettleman City. Groundwater beneath the Kettleman Hills Facility is isolated and cannot be used as drinking or irrigation water. Indeed, it does not connect to or affect regional drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley or in the Kettleman Plain.
  4. The Kettleman Hills Facility helps all California communities. Over the past 30 years, the Kettleman Hills Facility has played an important role in more than 4,800 community cleanup projects by providing safe disposal capacity.
  5. The Kettleman Hills Facility needs to expand to continue to provide needed services to nearby communities. As the facility nears capacity, WM has started a permit process to expand. The Kings County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to grant a permit, and a recent decision by Kings County Superior Court Judge concluded that the Board of Supervisors followed state environmental laws in doing so. The State of California and the U.S. EPA must approve the expansion before it can proceed.