Clover Flat Landfill Archives

Clover Flat Landfill

August 13, 2024

Pressure grows to close controversial Napa Valley landfill

By Shannon Kelleher

A coalition of environmental groups are pushing California officials to close a Napa Valley-area landfill that has been the site of repeated regulatory violations and is suspected of sending toxic chemicals into local waterways, which drain into the river that irrigates the valley’s famous vineyards.

In a letter finalized Aug. 14, seven local nonprofit organizations called on officials overseeing waste management and water quality to shut down the Clover Flat Landfill and the related garbage collection recycling and composting operation called Upper Valley Disposal Services (UVDS).

The landfill is “long overdue to move its waste operations to a safer, less environmentally sensitive location,” the groups wrote.

The letter was signed by Sierra Club Redwood Chapter, Non-Toxic Neighborhoods, Napa Vision 2050, Institute for Conservation Advocacy Research & Education, Preserve Rural Sonoma County, the Save Napa Valley Foundation and the Suscol Intertribal Council, a group that works to preserve Native American culture in the Napa Valley area. The letter was also signed by Geoff Ellsworth, the former mayor of the St. Helena community, and local activist Anne Wheaton.

Last year, a group of more than 20 former and then-current employees of Clover Flat and UVDS filed a formal complaint to federal and state agencies, including the US Department of Justice, alleging “clearly negligent practices” in management of “toxic and hazardous materials at UVDS/CFL over decades”.

The employees cited “inadequate and compromised infrastructure and equipment” that they said was “affecting employees as well as the surrounding environment and community.”

Clover Flat Landfill and UVDS are owned by Waste Connections, a large national waste management company.

The Napa Valley wine industry has not publicly expressed concern about pollution from the landfill.

From.CloverFlatLandfill.at.Elevation.looking.at.NV.Vineyards

June 9, 2024

Worries in wine country: Napa Valley wrestles with chemical contamination controversy

By Shannon Kelleher

Famous for its lush vineyards and cherished local wineries, Napa Valley is where people go to escape their problems.

“When you first get there, it’s really pretty,” said Geoff Ellsworth, former mayor of St. Helena, a small Napa Valley community nestled 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. “It mesmerizes people.”

What the more than 3 million annual tourists don’t see, however, is that California’s iconic wine country has a problem of its own – one that has spurred multiple ongoing government investigations and created deep divisions among residents and business owners, with some fearing the region’s reputation and way of life may be in peril.

At the heart of the fear is the decades-old Clover Flat Landfill (CFL), perched on the northern edge of the valley atop the edge of a rugged mountain range. Two streams run adjacent to the landfill as tributaries to the Napa River.

A growing body of evidence, including regulatory inspection reports and emails between regulators and CFL owners, suggests the landfill and a related garbage collection, recycling and composting business known as Upper Valley Disposal Services (UVDS) have routinely polluted those local waterways that drain into the Napa River with an assortment of dangerous toxins.

The river irrigates the valley’s beloved vineyards and is used recreationally for kayaking by over 10,000 people annually. The prospect that the water and wine flowing from the region may be at risk for contamination with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals has driven a wedge between those speaking out about the concerns and others who want the issue kept out of the spotlight, according to Ellsworth.

“The Napa Valley is amongst the most high-value agricultural land in the country,” said Ellsworth, a former employee of Clover Flat. “If there’s a contamination issue, the economic ripples are significant.”