"California's businesses, farms and 37 million residents generate 30 million tons of trash each year, and collecting and burying it is a multibillion-dollar activity.

But while we generate all that garbage and want it whisked away, we don't want its smelly, noisy and unsightly disposal anywhere near where we live.

Not surprisingly, therefore, creating enough landfill space to handle our trash is a perpetual political issue.

As the Legislature churns toward adjournment, lawmakers and lobbyists for stakeholders in the trash trade are engaged in sharp conflicts over controversial waste disposal sites. And two bills are polar opposites in thrust."

Get the Story:
Dan Walters: A big trash pile means big politics (The Sacramento Bee

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