The Kings County Planning Commission will have a busy day ahead, as it faces a marathon public hearing Monday on a controversial landfill expansion in Kettleman Hills proposed by Waste Management.

Concerned residents of Kings County will get the opportunity to weigh in on the issue during the hearing taking place at Kings Fairgrounds in Hanford.

The meeting begins at 2 p.m. with county officials' presentation of the project and an environmental study report, followed by the presentation by Waste Management officials. The meeting will recess and resumes at 6 p.m. with a public hearing portion, when the general public will be allowed to ask questions and make comments regarding the project.

Waste Management wants to expand the existing hazardous waste landfill by 11 acres and build a new 64-acre landfill at its Kettleman Hills Facility. The company says the project is necessary and important for the region because it will extend the Kettleman Hills Facility's hazardous waste capacity by 32 years.

The Kettleman facility is the largest hazardous waste landfill facility in the western United States. The facility has recently added a new municipal solid-waste facility and a landfill converted into a bioreactor. The company is seeking a permit renewal to continue disposal of carcinogenic PCB waste at the site.

The company touts its safety records and says its Kettleman facility is highly regulated, monitored and controlled by all levels of governments.

But community activists and environmental justice advocates are concerned.

Citing the cumulative effects of several proposed industrial projects being built around Kettleman City and Avenal, they have staged many protests over the past few years. They have complained about anything from lack of Latino representation in the public process by the county to health concerns posed by a high incidence of birth defects and infant deaths in Kettleman City.

Among the environmental impact analyses of the landfill project disputed by opponents: