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88 Page 113 Twenty-six (26) of the NOVs related solely to the permit status. Currently, the Sun Valley facility legally operates under an Interim Operating Agreement (lOA) issued by the Independent Hearing Panel of the City of Los Angeles. The purpose of the lOA is to provide the operator the opportunity to continue operations while the legal and technical requirements of the Solid Waste Facility Permit process are completed. Since the facility is not in technical compliance with the standardized solid waste facility regulations, the company automatically receives two NOVs during each LEA inspection (one violation for "Authorized by Solid Waste Facility Permit" and a second for "Complies with Terms and Conditions of the Solid Waste Facility Permit"). While the company cites that there have been bureaucratic obstacles preventing the timely issuance of a Solid Waste Facility Permit, Mr. Thompson and other regulators observe that the company has come reluctantly to the permitting process and that much of the delay in the permitting process is the fault of the company. The balance of the 2007 NOVs (16) were issued by the LEA for operational conditions at the Sun Valley facility and include violations for: vector, bird, and animal control; training; hazardous, liquid, or special waste containment; scavenging; traffic control; cleaning; reporting; and load checking. While vector, bird, and animal control often present pernicious challenges to solid waste facilities and are particularly difficult to control for an "open air" operation like Community Recycling's, the diligent, persistent application of proven control protocols can reduce these problems. The remaining NOVs are well within the control of Community Recycling's site managers. As a general principle, the LEA will provide a company a warning (reported as an "Area of Concern") prior to issuing a NOV. A capable, motivated site manager will typically heed the warnings and correct any deficiencies prior to being issued an NOV by the LEA. It is the Evaluation Committee's opinion that managers of the facility should be able to meet the "minimum standards of operation" that are set by the LEA and avoid the issuance of NOVs. In 2008, the number of inspection violations that were issued for operational reasons were reduced from sixteen (16) in 2007 to seven (7). Twenty-four (24) of thirty-one (31) total violations were solely related to permit status. Of the remaining violations that were operational in nature, four (4) were issued by the CIWMB during their annual inspection (see Appendix C) and two (2) redundant citations (2) were issued by the City of Los Angeles LEA. Also providing regulatory oversight for the Community Recycling's Sun Valley facility is the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB). Mr. Jeff Hackett, Supervisor, represents the MSW Facilities & EA Inspections and Enforcement- Compliance Evaluation and Enforcement Division. In the December 2008 Transfer/Processing Facility Inspection Report, the CIWMB issued seven (7) NOVs to Community Recycling. Three of the seven NOVs were related to permit status (as described in the LEA-City of Los Angeles section above). The remaining NOV's were issued for: reporting; cleaning; hazardous, liquid, and special waste; traffic control; and scavenging. Mr. Hackett, the SBWMA staff, and consultants observe that the violations relating to cleaning, traffic control, and scavenging are well within the control of managers that are committed to the elimination of these persistent operating issues Community Recycling also owns and operates a 4,000 acre compost operation in Kern County. The facility is regulated by the Kern County Environmental Health Department. In mid-January 2009, Department director, Brian Pitts stated that, "to his immediate knowledge, there were no past, or pending enforcement issues related to the compost operation." He noted that the company had applied to amend its conditional use permit (CUP) and that a community activist organization either had, or was likely to, oppose the land use change amendment. Bill O'Rullian and Terry Gray, at the LEA office for the area are directly responsible for the inspection and regulatory enforcement of the Facility Operations Evaluation Committee Report: 3/18/2009 Page4