The County of Santa Barbara and MSB Investors have found themselves at a place of “irreconcilable differences,” over the operations at the Tajiguas Landfill, commonly known as the dump. MSB, also known as Mustang Renewable Power Ventures, built and now oversees the new processing and recycling facilities in Gaviota. But continual complaints about “putrid” smells, organics buried in the dump, water quality violations, unpaid contractors, and heavy equipment accidents led the Board of Supervisors to vote unanimously on Tuesday to end its relationship with MSB. But not without a fight.
MSB’s CEO John Dewey submitted a lengthy letter accusing the county of bringing the problems on itself. His attorney, Jessica Diaz of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, argued before the supervisors that the county viewed MSB as a “bottomless bank account” rather than the diligent operator it was.
The new facilities, in operation since July 2021, separate organic waste from recycling and trash, and reduce organics to methane and a compost ingredient called digestate. Sales of recyclables were 75 percent of the operating revenue, but the market fell in 2017. According to MSB, the county failed to provide the cash flow assistance promised in their contract. The provisions also required an increase in tipping fees — the charge to drop trash at the dump — but staff failed to do that “in order to avoid having to present the inconvenient truths to the Board of Supervisors,” Dewey wrote.