South Lake Tahoe, Calif.– The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will continue to enforce the expanded closure of the Meyers Landfill site and surrounding area for public safety as construction resumes on the site remedy set forth in the November 2007 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Record of Decision.
The expanded closure, implemented last year in November 2010, is meant to protect the public from the hazards of heavy equipment operations, in addition to preventing potential exposure to contaminated materials which may be encountered during remedy construction activities. The Meyers Landfill site itself has been under a closure order since 1997.
The Meyers Landfill was a municipal landfill operated by El Dorado County under a Forest Service Special Use Permit from approximately 1955 to 1971. Groundwater beneath the site has been impacted by water leaching through the decomposing landfill waste. This has resulted in a groundwater contaminant plume extending approximately 1,600 feet down-gradient from the site.
In November 2007, the Forest Service issued a Record of Decision to remediate the landfill waste mass by installing an impermeable cover,
preventing groundwater contact with the landfill waste and capturing landfill gas emitted from waste composition. The agency continues to work with contractors to investigate the contaminated groundwater plume and determine whether additional measures are necessary to address it.
For more information on the Meyers Landfill Site, including a map of the closure, the Record of Decision and the Remedial Design, visit
http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/ltbmu/MeyersLandfill.
