Facility near Crow's Landing on I-5 Ca?

My husband & I have driven by this place several times now since we live in Los Angeles and my daughter is now attending UC Berkeley. We have always wondered if this place was some kind of prison or jail. But after reading all the comments about Crow's Landing, it makes sense to me. Thanks for the remarks!

I agree. The fence does not look like a high security fence. I thought it was a prison at first but at second glance the fence is only tall - not high security. The location of the Covanta Energy Corporation is on the west side of I5 by Crows Landing. That makes sense. Covanta Energy Corporation
4040 Fink Rd
Crows Landing, CA 95313
2098374423

Just drove by it again and decided to google this time. The 30" security fence and checkpoint charlie really makes you wonder. I guess if the place is burning trash and spewing dioxin I'll put the air on re-circulate next time. The satellite photo's show what appears to be grapes nearby - hope I don't drink any of that wine.

let's place a top secret facility near a road that thousands of people drive every day

All indications seem to confirm this is a waste incineration facility.
Check out www.invisible5.org...
This gives more information and includes a photo of the entrance sign.

What remains a mystery to me, is how do they connect to the grid?
Satellite images show no signs of power distribution.
Underground distribution seems unnecessary and highly unlikely due to the costs.

I live a few miles from both the old Crows Landing Naval Air Station, and the Covanta Co-Generation Plant; sorry to burst your bubble, but the tall fence is there to keep errant trash from blowing onto I-5 and parts east. Sometimes when you drive by there you can see trash plastered up against the fence from the almost constant westerly wind they have out there.

As for the Naval Air Station, yes, there are plans to turn into an inland railport facility, but there are more than a few people in my community who aren't too happy about the direction the development is taking. Sometimes, on my way home, I used to drive through the Naval Air Station just for fun (most of the gates are always open now, though there are ways around them; the only gate that's locked on a consistent basis now is the North Entrance gate on Highway 33); there is a lot of old & intetresting stuff out there (including what looks like an old portable radar station).

reply to post by exdog


I know the place that you are discussing. I lived in, nearby, Gustine for most of my life. The facility is a trash/dump facility that is also a recycling center. The reason for the high fences is due to the trash that blows away as it is being dumped and also to keep out potential looters from the recyclable materials on the site.

As far as the microwave and other antennas near the site these are privately owned by the home down the hill. For what ever reason they are owned I do not know but keep in mind the oddities of the people around the area. Post WW2 a man began storing tires and rubber in a valley less than 10 miles away. These are what led to the nasty fire during 1999. I hope this has helped answer your questions.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS
"Stop watching so many "X Files" re-runs." Amen to that! Dueing WW II the Army (Air Corps) and Navy both had large numbers of small auxiliary fields. For the Navy these wer usually names on the order of "Jones Farm NAAS" for Naval Auxiliary Air Station - while the large ones, such as Alameda, would be NAS for Naval Air Station. When they were training thousands of new pilots there was a need for lots of places those newbies could practice touch and go's (approach and landing practice) as well as perhaps land, arm, and use nearby bomb and gunnery ranges - even small practice bombs can be nasty.

The question about why the high fencing (pretty weebly stuff, btw, not exactly high security), and why the top angles inward are interesting, but not ominous. Seagull problems (to keep down freeway bird strikes?) is my off the wall guess.

- Brownshoe Sailor

reply to post by gaffer


The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office now uses a part of the airstrip for high speed tactical driving for law enforcement training as well as "defensive driving" for the public. Took a class not long ago...very cool place. Have about 20 retired Sheriff's cars in a locked cage area as well as a repair shop. I was eyeing the old Civil Defense siren still on site! There's also a classroom they use on site.

reply to post by exdog


I too drive by this strange place a few times a year and was wondering what on earth is it? How can we find out? I'm really curious!
KRW

I have driven by this facility on a few occasions and wondered what it was too. Due to the unusually high amount of trash that had been caught on that 30 foot fence, I suspected it might be a trash facility. I continued to drive north on I-5 a little further and there is an off-ramp that goes to it and it says it is in fact a waste facility.

reply to post by exdog


Let me ease your minds. This facility is the Fink Road Landfill - the Stanislaus County dump. The reason for the high fences is to keep papers from blowing out onto the highway due to high winds frequently experienced at this site. The facility above the landfill is the Covanta Energy Plant which processes garbage for energy. The "guards" at the gate are actually "weigh masters" who weigh the garbage trucks in and out of the facility. Several people drive in and ask the "weigh masters" about the facility and they like to tease the public by telling them it is the state insane asylum. Hope this eases some minds out there.

The facility that you are speaking of with the fences around it is the Stanislaus County Landfill. It is open to the public to bring your gabage and dispose of it for a nominal fee. Fences are provided, because of the high winds, to keep garbage from blowing on to the freeway or into farmland located close to the facility.

The facility that you see with the large smoke stack, is in fact steam. This facility is called, COVANTA ENGERY. They receive garbage from the local garbage transfer stations, after is has been sorted for recyleables, and burn this to produce electricty, that they sell back to PG&E.

The guard shack that you speak of, is a weight station. This is where vehicles check in, and are weighed before they dump their garbage, either at the Landfill or Covanta Energy.

The facilities are clearly marked with LARGE CEMENT SIGNS, at the entrance of the road that takes you to these two facilities.

So rest assure, there is NO TOP SECRET MISSION, going on there. Just a bunch of garbage.

you folks need to calm down and read gaffer's post.

it burn garbage and the fence is to keep the garbage from blowing on to the higway --due to the strong w winds there. note all the garbage stuck to the fence.

also the crows landing (old Naval Air Station) landing strip and the garbage incinerator are NOT related in any way...

unless you are a paranoid conspiracy nut...

the only large facility i know of in that area is a power plant that used to burn tires and now burns the trash for the county.
37°23'8"N 121°8'26"W
maps.google.com...< br />

www.stanislauswte.com...

[edit on 29-10-2008 by ANNED]

reply to post by ibeszn


Check out this link and stop being so ignorant.

www.militarymuseum.org...

wow. It was an airbase during WWII that trained bombers before sent out to carriers. (there's the navy connection).

Chill guys, its not a conspiracy. My neigbor was stationed there from the time it was built till 1946.

They're doing zombie research! Don't be fooled!! The fence is to keep them from climbing out and escaping into the population!!! They're intelligent military zombies!!!!

Very interesting... I noticed it this weekend while driving up and back to Sacramento...
Map & streetview