Commissioners in rural Humboldt County have blocked a California company's plans to import tons of garbage from the San Francisco Bay area to northern Nevada.
The Humboldt County Commission on Monday denied a request to extend a conditional use permit sought by Recology, the parent firm of Jungo Land & Investments Co.
Recology has proposed importing 4,000 tons of garbage a day for the next 95 years to a desert site about 30 miles west of Winnemucca.
The county's Regional Planning Commission had granted Recology the extension it needed to move forward with the project, but the County Commission unanimously revoked it, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., hailed the commission's actions. Last year, Reid asked for a U.S. Geological Survey evaluation of the effects of waste seepage on groundwater supplies, the Humboldt River and Rye Patch Reservoir.
"The proposal to dump a mountain of California trash in Nevada is a lose-lose proposition for our state," Reid said in a statement Tuesday. "The people of Humboldt County have made it clear they don't want other states dumping trash in their backyards, and I applaud their decision."
Gov. Jim Gibbons, before a special legislative session in February, proposed levying fees on imported garbage to raise money for the state.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com