“If I lived in Arizona, I’d be out protesting.”

Oladele Ogunseitan, a microbiologist and presidential chair at the University of California, Irvine

Officials are once again taking a close look at how the state handles its toxic materials and could make changes. The review is part of a 2021 law that, among other things, is requiring the state to prepare a hazardous waste management plan.

As part of the planning process, the department is scheduled to release a detailed public report with data on hazardous waste California is generating and where it’s going by March 1. The actual management plan, however, isn’t due until March 2025.

Next up: The Great Salt Lake

One company appears to be banking on the continued flow of California hazardous waste.

A company called Promontory Point Resources is currently trying to get a permit from Utah regulators to operate a landfill that could take out-of-state waste, including contaminated soil from California.

The company behind the Promontory Point project had a needs assessment prepared as part of its permit application.

That analysis calls excavated soil a “unique market opportunity” and suggests many Northern California hazardous waste generators would send their contaminated soil to the landfill because of the low cost. The analysis estimates

facilities near the landfill, has also raised concerns. The company uses brine from the lake to produce minerals for fertilizers used in fruit, tree nut and vegetable crops.

Early soil borings in the area found fractured bedrock, said Joe Havasi, Compass Minerals’ vice president of natural resources. Such fractures could be a path for contaminants from the landfill to “flow quickly and efficiently to the lake,” Havasi said. The scale and extent of such fractures haven’t been fully assessed and there should at the very least be more testing before any permit approval, he added.

In a written response to questions from CalMatters, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality wrote that “there are no concerns with the bedrock beneath the landfill.”

As to whether the department has any concerns about the type of waste that could be dumped on the lake’s edge, the agency responded that the “landfill permit application is currently under review.”

Landfill representatives did not respond to multiple interview requests.

If Utah does approve the permit, Lynn de Freitas, the environmental advocate, has a plea to California.

“You could hold on to your own waste,” she said. “That would be ideal.”