Sludge Watch ==> County Staff Deride Public - San Bernardino County Approves Nursery Products EIR - Appeal to follow

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

After hearing about 3 hours of public opposition to the proposed Nursery 
Products sludge compost site in Hinkley, (at 3 minutes a person)
the San Bernardino County Planning Commission swept aside concerns and 
accepted the flawed Nursery Products Environmental Impact Report as complete 
and final.

Many came to voice their opposition. There were presentations about water 
quality issues  from the Lahantan Water Board, concerns about
flaws in the Traffic Study by County staff, concerns about unmitigatable air 
quality impairment from VOCs, particulate and green house gases,
issues related to the contamination of Desert Tortoise habitat, pathogens in 
swampcoolers, and dozens of residents from Barstow, Hinkley, and Newberry 
Springs who begged
the Planning Commission to reject the EIR, or at least send it back until 
all the unanswered issues were addressed.

No dice.  A slick infomercial from the proponent and his myriad of high 
priced helpers (lawyer from San Franscisco, spin doctor from Arizona, permit
getter from Massachussets...etc. Proponent Jeff Meberg managed the drive up 
from his home on the coast in San Clemente....and 
ex-EPA-poobah-turned-consultant
 Al Rubin did a little video presentation standing in a pumpkin field while 
he extolled the protectiveness of the 503s.  This is especially foul since 
the proponent does not want to follow the compost requirements as set out in 
the Part 503 requirements...he doesn't want to turn the windrows 5 times as 
required by 503.  Then the sludge trucking company said non of his staff 
minded the smell of sludge.  County staff reminded the members of the 
Planning Commission of their ignorance and told them to be reassured that 
these sludge industry guys know best. It was a nauseating spectacle.

We see that as county just to the west - Kern County - has a fight on its 
hands to enforce Measure E to stop land application of sludge on County 
lands in Kern County.,
the big sludge generating cities like Los Angeles are now lined up to find 
their next rural community to inundate with sewer wastes.  Hinkley is the 
next target.
 Its a David and Goliath fight.  The sludge industry does not have a pretty 
face.  There was a smug triumphal tone from the sludgers that reminds one of 
OJ Simpson celebrating his acquital.

The Hinkley locals will have to raise the filing fee $1850 just to file an 
appeal against the finalization of the EIR.  The fight goes on.

Send your donations to
HelpHinkley.org    c/o Norman Diaz  dnorm at earthlink.net


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Friday, December 1, 2006
Commission approves composting site
By AARON AUPPERLEE Staff Writer

BARSTOW - The San Bernardino County Planning Commission voted unanimously on 
Thursday to approve a conditional-use permit for Nursery Products to 
establish a site for composting bio-solids and green materials on a portion 
of 160 acres near Hinkley. Hinkley residents plan to appeal the decision.
"We're going to fight this to the death," said Steve Smith, who addressed 
the commission during the public comment portion.
Norman Diaz, an activist from Hinkley, walked out of the hearing chambers at 
the San Bernardino County Government Center in San Bernardino with an appeal 
application in hand. The appeal will go directly to the Board of 
Supervisors.

Residents respond

Sandra Brown, a Hinkley resident, said she would work with Diaz on the 
appeal after she heard the board's decision.
"They have given us small pox-infested blankets," she said. "They have 
destroyed us."
She said the county government did not do its job to protect citizens and 
approved a plan with no benefit to the residents of Hinkley. Brown lives 
downwind from the approved site and is worried about inhaling the dust 
kicked up from the rows of composting material and carried by the high 
winds.
She also called Thursday's meeting a "compliance with the law by formality 
only" and said the Planning Commission members did not listen to the 
concerns of the Hinkley residents.

"This was a farce and a joke," she said. 'The first step'

Brian Lochrie, a media representative for Nursery Products, called the 
board's decision only the beginning.
"It's the first step in a long process to get approval for a much needed 
composting site for Inland Empire bio-solid waste," he said.
Lochrie said Nursery Products needs to apply for permits from the Lahontan 
Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Mojave Desert Air Quality 
Management District. He said a lot of the concerns expressed by Hinkley 
residents came from misinformation.
"Composting itself is completely safe," he said.

Staff photo by Aaron Aupperlee
Fred Williamson of Hinkley expresses his concern about the possibility of 
increased traffic on Highway 58 from the proposed Nursery Products 
composting facility. He called the highway a country road and said, 'We've 
had enough deaths on that country road.'
The 32 Hinkley residents and experts who gave comments during the public 
hearing disagreed with Lochrie and Nursery Products' claims. Many speakers 
brought up previous problems at a Nursery Products composting facility in 
Adelanto, where residents complained about the stink and flies from the 
facility. Nursery Products eventually left their site in Adelanto.
Other Hinkley residents raised concerns over the effect the proposed 
facility would have on water quality, air quality and traffic.
"The highway is nothing but a country road," said resident Fred Williamson. 
"You can't pull out in front of a truck. Most times when a truck is 
involved, somebody dies, and we've had enough deaths on that country road."
In addition to the speakers against the Nursery Products facility, 19 people 
stated their opposition but did not address the Planning Commission. In all, 
85 people attended the meeting, held about 75 miles away from the affected 
site in Hinkley.
Six people spoke on behalf of Nursery Products. They included employees from 
the Adelanto facility and other people in the bio-solid composting business. 
Alan Rubin, a former Environmental Protection Agency biosolids scientist, 
testified via video that the isolation of the site and the dry climate are 
ideal.
"I can't think of a better site in the United States to have a facility such 
as this," he said.
At the conclusion of the public comments, the four members of the Planning 
Commission expressed some of their concerns. The commission included three 
conditions with their approval. It stipulated that Nursery Products must 
provide a closure plan, which would provide a plan of action and funds if 
the facility should ever close. The commission also included provisions 
requiring access roads be paved. Nursery Products must use the best 
available composting technologies, according to the third condition.
"It looks like they are doing the minimum to get out there and start 
processing," commission chairman Mike Cramer said.
Response to protest
The meeting opened with a statement read by Julie Rynerson, division chief 
for current planning for San Bernardino County, in response to Tuesday's 
protest in front of a hardware store owned by commission member Ken Anderson 
on East Virginia Way. They protested a decision to keep the meeting in San 
Bernardino rather than moving it to Barstow.
"The fact is that Mr. Anderson had nothing to do with the decision to keep 
the meeting at our normal location here in San Bernardino," she said. "He 
deserves a public apology."
City Council member Joe D. Gomez offered Anderson an apology during his 
comments at the meeting.
Local attorney Robert Conaway was not so quick to apologize.
"They owe us an apology," he said of the commission. "It's evidence of a 
trend by the county to make efforts to chill the freedom of speech of 
people."
Anderson said he was out of town until Wednesday evening, and he did not 
prepare the statement.

http://www.desertdispatch.com/2006/116498152887174.html