Conservationists are pressing San Diego officials to conduct what they say is a legally mandated environmental review in the city’s bid to privatize its Miramar Landfill.

This week they asked city leaders to suspend the process and perform a detailed analysis of environmental problems that could come from a company running the facility. Possible downsides they cited include losing the valued native plant nursery and the green waste recycling operation at the site, and the potential that a private operator will rush to make money on tipping fees instead of encouraging conservation.

Once the site is turned over to a private business, residents won’t have the same ability to influence decision-making at public meetings or the transparency provided by state records laws for public agencies, said Pamela Epstein, an attorney for the Sierra Club’s local chapter who wrote a 10-page letter to the city this week detailing her concerns.

She said San Diego still has time to do an environmental impact report before signing a contract — though she said the process should have started months ago so leaders could analyze pitfalls before the final stages of the process. Such an assessment likely would take several months.

“They need to first step back and become compliant” with the California Environmental Quality Act, Epstein said. “It really goes to the heart of public process, informed decision-making and environmental protection.”

San Diego leases about 1,400 acres for the landfill from the Navy, under a deal that runs into 2045.

Alex Roth, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders, would not provide specifics about any environmental reviews at the landfill.

“We are well aware of all the state and federal environmental regulations. We intend to comply with all of them,” he said.

In July, Sanders announced that he would look at getting out of the landfill business to concentrate on what he called core services such as police, firefighting, parks and libraries. He said exploring the options was what “any smart government agency or private business would do.” …

From Sanders’ first announcement, analysts at the Center on Policy Initiatives in San Diego have warned about the potential for privatization to undermine environmental initiatives at Miramar Landfill and make it harder for the public to know what’s going on at the site.

Such concerns were fueled earlier this year when San Diego dropped its efforts to meet best management standards at the landfill set by an international accreditation body shortly before Sanders’ announcement in July. City officials said the benefits of certification — known as ISO 14001 — had expired, but outsiders questioned whether the city was trying to lure companies by lowering its standards.

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