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Legislation aims to end megafires Mountain Democrat staff WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-04) and Congressman Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) introduced legislation March 2 directing the U.S. Forest Service to immediately suppress wildfires on national forest system lands and put an end to the policy of letting fires burn. “This ‘let burn’ policy of federal land managers began in 1972, during the height of the radical environmental movement,” McClintock states in a news release. “It stems from the premise that fire is nature’s way of cleaning up forests and that active suppression of fires leads to a build-up of excess fuels. As we have tragically witnessed firsthand, it is dangerous nonsense to ‘monitor’ incipient fires in today’s forest tinderbox.” According to McClintock, the U.S. Forest Service was formed to remove excess growth before it can burn and to “preserve forests in a healthy condition from generation to generation.” With wildfires burning in droughtstricken California at a record rate, LaMalfa shared a statement urging the days of “monitoring” fires to end. “The Forest Service’s monitoring policy and ‘watch and wait’ has allowed multiple catastrophic fires to unnecessarily escalate and devastate our wildlands and rural towns,” LaMalfa states. “In 24 hours, what starts out as a small blaze can expand to consume thousands of homes, municipal facilities and businesses.” Unmanaged, overgrown forests are a “ticking timebomb for another massive fire,” he adds. Solutions suggested by LaMalfa — aggressive initial attacks on fires, forest thinning near towns and infrastructure, wider buffer zones around power lines and using roads as firebreaks.
Mountain Democrat photo by Andrew Vonderschmitt
Operations supervisors Allen Mallette and Ray Woods, along with site manager Jeff England, from left, provide a scale comparison on the immensity of the new Materials Recovery Facility at El Dorado Disposal.
Big things going up at El Dorado Disposal
Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer The brand new Materials Recovery Facility at El Dorado Disposal will be open soon and ready to serve. Construction that has been in the works for nigh on seven years has finally come to fruition. The project actually started back in 2014, when the permits and site plans were first submitted.
“We were confronted with a soil remediation challenge,” said Jeff England, site manager at El Dorado Disposal’s Placerville headquarters. “This facility sits on a very old lime plant.” There were concentrated lime deposits in the area and a concern was raised that lime — which is highly alkaline — would be released into Weber Creek, according to England. “We drilled, I think, 36 holes,” he
said. When concentrated deposits of lime were detected they had to be removed in a safe way. Limeladen soil was removed and more soil had to be brought in to replace that lost mass. Approximately $5 million went into the remediation process. England said the lime was recycled locally. Lime is commonly used as a soil additive both in construction and agriculture. ■ See MRF, page A7
See LEGISLATION, page A3
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Rockslide comes down on Echo Summit, requires blasting Mountain Democrat staff SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — A rockslide came crashing down on Echo Summit Thursday
night, making Highway 50 impassable until Caltrans crews could blast massive boulders and clear the roadway. On Friday crews readied the nearly 15-foot boulders for blasting, which took place around noon. Highway 50 was expected to reopen later that day, according to Caltrans officials. Travelers who were headed to or from South Lake Tahoe on Highway 50 had to find another route. The rockslide was reported at about 6 p.m. Thursday and Caltrans crews worked through the night and into the morning, drilling holes into the boulders where explosives would be placed.
Caltrans crews say the drilling took longer than expected due to the massive size of the boulders. Repairs to guard rail damaged by the rocks were also needed, Caltrans officials state in a post to Twitter. California Highway Patrol officers were turning eastbound motorists around at Sly Park Road and Sierraat-Tahoe and detouring westbound travelers at the State Route 89 junction and Meyers. Echo Summit has seen its share of rockslides in recent years, including one in October 2021 and another in April 2021, where a motorist crashed into boulders as a rockslide came
Photo courtesy of Caltrans
Caltrans workers drill holes for placement of explosives in boulders that fell onto Highway 50 at Echo Summit in a rockslide Thursday night. down onto the highway right in front of them. The motorist was not injured. Both of those rockslides also required
a 3-foot boulder had fallen from Echo Summit, damaging the roof of a car traveling up Highway 50.
explosives to remove large boulders. In January 2021 California Highway Patrol officers reported
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