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Houses sit just outside the footprint of the Prima Deshecha Landfill. Credit: JOSE HERNANDEZ \/ VOICE OF OC<\/p>\nAfter hundreds of South Orange County residents contacted their county supervisor, Katrina Foley, asking why the county was doubling trash going into the Prima Deshecha landfill, she publicly declared the action was a surprise to her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur office was not informed that this was being done by (OC) Waste and Recycling, and I learned about this from all the residents starting to email me,\u201d Foley said during a February interview with Voice of OC. \u201cI have challenged them to do a better job at looking at the landfill as something we\u2019re trying to decrease, not increase.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the interview, Foley also publicly denied that she knew anything about the expansion, publicly calling out OC Waste and Recycling Director Tom Koutroulis and noting he never spoke to her about it earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite Mr. Koutroulis\u2019 comment about \u2018it was insufficient\u2019 implying there was some kind of briefing to the board, there was no briefing,\u201d Foley said at the board\u2019s Feb. 10 meeting. \u201cThere was no information.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But a Voice of OC review of internal communications between Foley and county staff found Foley was indeed briefed about the expansion years earlier, with multiple emails between her and some of the county\u2019s top waste and recycling staff about the issue.<\/p>\n
Foley said the emails she received from staff previously about the issue did not qualify as a briefing, saying she received thousands of emails over her tenure as a supervisor and did not recall it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the new Fifth District Supervisor in 2023, and someone who had never before represented an area with landfills, I did not yet have a full understanding of how this issue was developing,\u201d Foley wrote in a Tuesday evening statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She noted that in 18 other meetings with OC Waste and Recycling staff over the last three years, no one ever mentioned the landfill expansion plans again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI oppose expanding our landfills. We must reduce waste. No review of emails from three years ago changes my position,\u201d Foley wrote. \u201cI did not recall the October 2023 email thread at the time. Regardless, my position is clear. I oppose the expansion of daily tonnage and will continue to advocate against it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents Raised Red Flags Years Ago<\/p>\n
Public concerns center around county plans to double the daily ceiling for trash going into the Prima Deshecha landfill near San Juan Capistrano, Rancho Mission Viejo and San Clemente, which county staff have asked to move from 4,000 to 8,000 tons a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Houses sit just outside the footprint of the Prima Deshecha Landfill. Credit: JOSE HERNANDEZ \/ VOICE OF OC<\/p>\n
The increase is part of county officials\u2019 plans to deal with the planned closure of the Olinda Alpha Landfill in Brea, which will begin sending trash to other sites.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The earliest email released by county staff in response to a Voice of OC records request came from a Rancho Mission Viejo resident nearly three years ago, on Oct. 3 2023, flagging concerns that the increase in trash going to the landfill would back up traffic on Ortega Highway.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am concerned that the Prima Deshecha landfill is going to increase its daily fill capacity from 4000 tons to 8000 tons,\u201d they wrote. \u201cEarlier this year, you met with the residents of Reata Glen and promised to work on a traffic mitigation plan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect you to keep your promise and not approve the additional fill rate until a mitigation plan is in effect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foley forwarded that email to Koutroulis that night, according to records.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we get an update on the timing of these projects?\u201d she asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the afternoon of Oct. 4, less than 24 hours after they asked about the shift, Koutroulis sent Foley an email walking her through the expansion, including an outline of the county\u2019s plans to shutter the county\u2019s Brea landfill and increase their dumping rate at Prima Deshecha.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am following up on my email this morning, providing more background and information regarding the upcoming Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) process for increased tonnage at Prima Deshecha Landfill,\u201d Koutroulis wrote to Foley. \u201cWe have planned for this shift in tonnage capacity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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A view of the Prima Deshecha landfill on Wednesday, Oct. 1. 2025. Credit: MAXIMO SANTANA, Voice of OC<\/p>\n
On Oct. 17 2023, Foley received another email from a different constituent raising the same concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you are familiar with the Ortega traffic problem as it exists but this proposed expansion of the dump can only make it dramatically worse and seems to come from people with insufficient knowledge or concern about the situation,\u201d they wrote. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to respond to me but I hope that you will be actively involved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foley forwarded that email to Koutroulis again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you Supervisor, I will see if this can be added to the comments,\u201d Koutroulis wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMore importantly, I need a response please,\u201d Foley replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
OC Waste and Recycling staff then circulated a draft for a page-long response to the resident\u2019s complaint, thanking them for their concerns and offering a tour of the landfill that would be sent out by the supervisor\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me send the response to the supervisor for her consideration,\u201d Koutroulis wrote in a message to multiple staff members on Oct. 17 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear from the records released if that draft was ever provided to Foley\u2019s office, with county records staff noting they\u2019re still preparing more emails to be released publicly.<\/p>\n
Waste and Recycling Staff Tried to Notify Supervisor of Expansion Plans<\/p>\n
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The Prima Deshecha landfill on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. Credit: MAXIMO SANTANA Voice of OC<\/p>\n
After the 2023 emails, there were no more messages directly between OC Waste and Foley on the issue, according to the latest batch of email communication released by the county in response to public records requests by Voice of OC.\u00a0<\/p>\n
OC Public Works staff continued working on the proposal to expand the capacity over the next several years.<\/p>\n
Yet according to records reviewed, in the fall of 2025, OC Waste and Recycling began making efforts to notify Foley about the project again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to ensure that the City Managers for San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, as well as D5 and CEO, have been updated on the upcoming mailing and meeting,\u201d wrote Francine Bangert, the department spokesperson, in a message to OC Waste and Recycling staff in Oct. 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foley is the representative for the county\u2019s fifth district, referred to in this case by staff as D5.<\/p>\n
In a separate email, a deputy director at OC Waste and Recycling, Lisa Smith, noted they were pushing back several deadlines to get more input from Foley\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTeam, we would like to push the public meetings\u2026assuming this gives us a few more days to have discussions with both cities and 5thD,\u201d Smith wrote in an email to her colleagues on Nov. 20 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She reiterated that point in a subsequent email.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo clarify, we want everything to wait until we can speak with both cities and 5thD, public meeting and public release,\u201d Smith wrote. \u201cWe think we can reach them in the next few days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Nov. 21, she confirmed in an email to Koutroulis that several meeting dates had been pushed back and that they would be reaching out again to Foley\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHi Tom \u2013 I met with the team re:Prima,\u201d Smith wrote. \u201cPlease confirm if you agree with these changes\u2026Monday we will contact 5th.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foley denied that any of those briefings took place in a text to Voice of OC late Tuesday, saying she still has not yet received a full briefing on the issue but that she has toured the landfill and learned more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the only time since I\u2019ve been a county supervisor where there was a big project in the district I represent where I didn\u2019t get a formal briefing,\u201d Foley said in a Tuesday evening interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She noted she\u2019s waiting on a full briefing because she wants staff to have time to review the complaints from the public about the project, and that she\u2019s waiting on them to go through those.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foley Denied Any Knowledge of the Project After Backlash\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite numerous messages between OC Waste and Recycling staff speaking on the importance of getting Foley\u2019s input, it\u2019s unclear from the released records if she was contacted again in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The written records do not include any possible phone calls or in person conversations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In past interviews and publicly, Foley claims she never heard from OC Waste and Recycling about the project until residents started complaining, and questioned why the county is trying to dump more trash there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are we adding more trash? We already had a plan. That is what I am disagreeing on. I don\u2019t want us to add more trash,\u201d Foley said in a February interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But county leaders have been planning an expansion of the landfill\u2019s daily capacity for years, along with their current construction project to expand the total size of the landfill and guarantee it continues receiving trash beyond the end of the century.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foley\u2019s currently running for reelection and faced questions from the head of the county Republican Party about how she could vote in favor to expand the size of the landfill and then try to vote down proposals to expand the amount of trash that goes in on a daily basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n