Nipomo Illegal Dumping Tied to Stolen Truck from San Joaquin Valley

A case of illegal dumping on private property in Nipomo has been linked to a truck reported stolen in the San Joaquin Valley.

The case is a reminder of how big a problem illegal dumping is on the Central Coast.

The Troesh Coleman Pacific Company of Nipomo found a mountain of trash, industrial waste and debris including large tires dumped on its Hutton Road property earlier this month.

“Its not cheap to get rid of this stuff”, says company owner Elijah Coleman, “especially this, this pile of trash has tires in it which is considered hazardous materials and is a little more expensive to get rid of.”

Heavy duty equipment has been brought in to separate the trash and debris before its removed and disposed of.

The cleanup is expected to cost Troesh Coleman Pacific thousands of dollars at a time when money is tight for the landscaping company.

“Its expensive, you pay by the ton when its this much trash and whoever dumped it here obviously didn’t want to pay for it and all it did was shift it onto us”, Elijah Coleman says, “its an out of pocket expense and its winter time which is our slow time of year, times are tough, its difficult to make payroll every week in the winter time and this just adds to the problem.”

In addition to being a safety hazard and eyesore, illegal dumping sends toxic runoff into local watersheds that flow to the ocean and threatens groundwater supplies.

Fines for illegal dumping are often in the thousands of dollars.

Those responsible for dumping the mountain of mess at Troesh Coleman Pacific have not yet been found.

“The only information I have from the Sheriff’s Department is they found the truck, it was stolen somewhere out of the valley”, Coleman says, “they haven’t found the driver of the truck or the person responsible for stealing it.”