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06/25/2009: "Required Repairs Complete On Sutton Rd Transfer Station"

San Juan County Public works as issued a statement that they have now "corrected all of the employee safety hazards that were identified during a Washington State Labor and Industries health and safety consultation visit at the San Juan Island Transfer Station in April."

According to solid waste manager Steve Alexander there may now be longer wait times, since -in his words- "We won’t sacrifice worker or customer safety in order to compensate for an inadequate facility.”

Alexander was the lead for the Public Works recommendation to build a new transfer station at the Beaverton Valley Road site; a recommendation made formal by the SWAC (Solid Waste Advisory Committee) but rejected by the County Council.



The press release also addressed an update on other Sutton Road issues, such as "the County has submitted [an] application to have the existing San Juan Island transfer station covered by the required Industrial stormwater permit. That is being done to comply with an order issued late last April by the Washington Department of Ecology following an inspection in March. The new Permit will require that no “process water” enters stormwater at the transfer station (process water is any water which comes into contact with garbage or recycled materials at the transfer station). When the Permit is granted, the County will be required to perform frequent water quality monitoring, make operational changes, purchase water-tight containers and make some physical changes to the current site -including building a cover over the tripping floor and a process water collection and conveyance system; or drastically changing the character of the operation.
The County must be in total compliance with the requirements of the stormwater permit by next April."