Regional Landfill Options for Orange County (RELOOC) Strategic Plan - Frank R. Bowerman (FRB) Landfill Implementation

The Orange County Board of Supervisors, as the lead agency for the OCWR FRB Landfill Project, certified the Final Environmental Impact Report No. 604 for the Regional Landfill Options for Orange County (RELOOC) Strategic Plan – Frank R. Bowerman Landfill Implementation (Final EIR No. 604), which was prepared by OCWR (formerly named as Orange County Integrated Waste Management Department) pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) on August 15, 2006. Final EIR No. 604 evaluated the potential environmental impacts associated with phased vertical and horizontal expansions of the OCWR FRB Landfill refuse footprint within the existing property boundary, an increase to the landfill’s permitted capacity and extension of its operational life to approximately 2053, an increase to the maximum permitted disposal rate to 11,500 tons per day, temporary disturbance of areas outside the property boundary to remediate on-site landslides through slope stabilization, implementation of a Soil Management Plan to preserve adjacent canyons, and measures to protect plant and animal habitats on the landfill property. The OCWR FRB Landfill Project implements a portion of the RELOOC improvements previously analyzed for the OCWR FRB Landfill in Final EIR No. 604. OCWR FRB submitted permit applications to: 1) replace two existing landfill gas (LFG) Flares I-1 and I-2 with two new enclosed LFG-fired Flares I-1a and I-2a, 2) install a new integrated LFG treatment system common to all flares, 3) make administrative changes such as separating out Flares I-1 to I-5 which are currently listed under one permit into their own individual permits, 4) update permits to reflect connections to the new LFG treatment system, and 5) update the sulfur oxide (SOx) and total sulfur (as hydrogen sulfide or H2S) emission limits in the permit conditions for Flares I-3 through I-5 to Best Available Control Technology (BACT) standards for consistency and without changing the quantity of LFG flared because these BACT limits did not exist at the time these flares were installed. The project applicant submitted the following: 1) South Coast AQMD Application Number (A/N) 652135 seeking to modify the Permit to Construct (PC) issued for the existing flare system (under A/N R-610010 which lists Flares I-1 to I-5) by removing Flares I-1 through I-4 from the existing permit, such that the revised PC will only list Flare I-5; 2) A/Ns 652136 and 652137 to administratively separate Flare I-3 and Flare I-4, respectively, from the existing flare system permit (currently listed under A/N R-610010) and establish Flare I-3 and Flare I-4 under their own permits; 3) A/N 652138 seeking to modify the PC issued for Flare I-6 (currently listed under A/N 614468) to add a connection to a new LFG sulfur removal system as a supplement to its current dedicated LFG treatment system; 4) A/N 652139 seeking change of conditions to the PC issued for the existing LFG treatment system (under A/N 621901) to reflect the connection to Flare I-6; 5) A/Ns 652140 and 652141 seeking PCs for two new enclosed LFG-fired Flares I-1a and I-2a (Perennial Energy Model No. FL-150-48-EN) which will replace existing Flares I-1 and I-2 (both currently listed under A/N R-610010), respectively; 6) A/N 652142 seeking a PC for a new integrated LFG treatment system common to all flares (i.e., Flares I-1a, I-2a, and I-3 through I-6); and 7) A/N 652143 seeking a Significant Title V Permit Revision.