Sludge Watch ==> Opposition to Nursery Products sludge open-air processing site in Hinkley

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

This is an interesting story.  The old EPA administrator -Al Rubin-  is now 
plumping for this sludge 'composter' proponent.   According to the Draft 
EIR, Nursery Products does  not intend to compost using the five turnings of 
the windrow that is the minimum methodology required in the Part 503 
regulations. Al Rubin always said this minimum standard was a requirement of 
the 503s.  And Al Rubin is the guy who said he has a two foot high stack of 
complaints about illness from people exposed to sludge.

Where are Al Rubin's credentials in public health?  He doesn't have them.  
Where is his research on the hundreds of complaints his office received?  He 
didn't do research.  So how can he say Hinkley residents would be 'safe'?

And why is this reporter told that the project will receive 2,000 tons of 
sludge and greenwaste per day when the proposal says it will be only an 
average of 1,100 tons per day?  Will someone please give the public an 
empirical dry ton figure of how much waste will be allowed to arrive at this 
proposed site?

Wet tons, dry tons, US tons, metric tons, cubic yards...they keep fiddling 
the figures.
Opposition to this project - you betcha.

............................................................

Opposition to Composting in Hinkley arises

Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
Article Launched:10/13/2006 12:00:00 AM PDT

HINKLEY - Voicing intense opposition to a proposed waste-composting facility 
west of here, residents of this High Desert town vow to carry their message 
to county leaders. As a 2 1/2-hour public meeting closed, community leaders 
launched plans to bus or caravan many Hinkley residents to a county Planning 
Commission hearing Nov. 30 in San Bernardino on a draft environmental impact 
report on the composting project.

"We don't want it here! Not in our neighborhood!" chanted many in a crowd of 
200 that filled the Hinkley School auditorium Wednesday night.

Apple Valley-based Nursery Products LLC, a composting firm, seeks a 
conditional-use permit from the county to process up to 400,000 tons of 
green material and biosolids annually at a 160-acre site about 10 miles west 
of Hinkley.

Biosolids are treated sewage sludge. When processed in sewage-treatment 
facilities, biosolids can be recycled and used as fertilizer, the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency reports.

"Composting kills off harmful microbes in biosolids," said Alan Rubin, chief 
author of the EPA's regulation-setting standards on using and composting the 
materials. "No illnesses result from composting biosolids."

He noted in an interview Thursday that bacteria in biosolids create a 
bio-chemical reaction that raises the temperatures of the material.

"The composting process destroys all pathogenic bacteria," Rubin said. "The 
process is absolutely safe."

While Wednesday night's meeting was designed to explain the environmental 
review process, residents arrived with signs denouncing the project.

"Hinkley is not a dumping ground for toxic wastes," one placard stated.

"The wind blows every day out here, and will carry pollutants to my place," 
said Lucille Riddle, owner of Lucy's Market, eight miles east of the 
composting site. "It's not healthy, and isn't something we want."

Composting procedures call for Nursery Products to use a combination of 
processing methods. Up to 1,000 tons of biosolids and 1,000 tons of green 
material would be received daily. Inert materials such as sand or sawdust 
would be used as a bulking agent.

"This project is an endangered species eradication plan," declared John 
Coffey, a resident of nearby Grandview. "It will wipe out the endangered 
desert tortoise."

Calling the composting procedures "junk science," Coffey said, "Now that 
we've heard the environmental report, it's time to consider litigation."

Attorney Robert Conaway, who lives in Hinkley, said the environmental report 
could be challenged because it does not have a Spanish-language version.

"About 38 percent of Hinkley area residents are Hispanic, and were not able 
to understand it," he said.

A court ruled in another case that residents in a central valley city were 
excluded in the permitting process. About 40 percent of them were 
Spanish-speaking.

Resident Al Ramos wanted to know if the county or its environmental 
consultant, San Diego-based URS Corp., had looked into Nursery Products' 
capabilities to control hazardous emissions.

That drew a shout from the crowd: "Capabilities? They have money!"

Brian Lochrie, spokesman for Nursery Products, said the composting 
operations are safe. "If they weren't, the facility wouldn't be opened."

After visiting up to 30 composting sites around the country, Rubin said the 
Hinkley site is the best he has seen for this type of operation in view of 
its isolation, high temperatures and low humidity.

"These factors all work together to kill all pathogens," he said. "The final 
composting process exceeds standards set by the EPA to apply (the end 
product) to the soil. There is zero public health risks to anyone."

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_4485695