Sludge Watch ==> Barstow editorial on Hinkley sludge compost - contain yourself!

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

This editorial recommends that the proposed massive open air sewage sludge 
composting
site in Hinkley be fully enclosed with biofilter.

Great idea.

But the condescending concept that Hinkley residents need not fear the 
facility - is not founded in fact.

This bad actor - Nursery Products LLC - has a terrible history.  And Hinkley 
needs to learn from this history.  Nursery Products  didn't just plague 
Adelanto with foul odors.  The letters of complaint cite vomitting, fever, 
flies, sick pets, fly infestations of biblical proportions, lost man hours 
of labor on construction sites, and food safety issues.  There were formal 
complaints about flashover risk and electrocution issues at the electricity 
transfer station next door from flies and dust and particulate.   This is 
much more than 'nuisance'.

And if the facility is permitted we know we can't count on the EPA to 
require the necessary 5 turnings of the windrow - they didn't require it 
before.  So the minimum standards of the federal Part 503 regulations may 
not be enforced.  And we know that the Environmental Health department of 
San Bernardino County cannot be trusted to take action on citizen complaints 
of illness, flies, odor, or public health.

They never acted on complaints they got in Adelanto. It took private 
litigation and a judge to close that place down.

Does Hinkley have that kind of money?

If Nursery Products wants to make money hauling the fecal filth of South 
California into the desert they should do it properly...in a fully enclosed 
facility with air filters and gas capture. The California  South Coast 
airshed requires sludge compost mitigation to protect the air. The San 
Joaquin Valley airshed requires sludge compost mitigation to protect the air 
- So the Mojave area residents deserve equal protection - a fully enclosed 
facility to protect the air.

Or better yet, cities should manage their own waste. They should not send 
their sludge to blow around in the desert where sensitive creatures ...like 
the desert tortoise and the Hinkley survivors of the PG&E chromium 6 
contamination....are trying to recover.

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


Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Editorial: Hinkley needs to be vigilant, but rational about compost facility

As most area residents are aware, the small community of Hinkley was made 
famous in the movie "Erin Brockovich" from a nasty battle over Chromium 6 
groundwater pollution.

Now a composting company, Nursery Products, wants to move a few miles west 
of Hinkley, and residents are in fear that the way the company handles solid 
waste is a new hazard to the community.

Nursery Products has a troubled history in the High Desert. Its facility in 
Adelanto became a flashpoint of complaints from residents about the foul 
odor and the spread of debris, and the city, as well as the power company 
sitting right next to the composting facility, fought to convince them to 
leave.

In 2005 Nursery Products agreed to relocate in a more rural area. 
Originally, they targeted Newberry Springs, but residents objected and 
fought back. Now they're considering an area eight miles west of Hinkley, 
and residents there are fighting back, too.

We definitely feel for Hinkley residents worried about their safety, though 
we're a bit concerned that some fears have been exaggerated. In Adelanto, 
the complaints centered around the horrible smell and the effect it had on 
the community, particularly children. A look through coverage by our sister 
paper in Victorville, the Daily Press, when Nursery Products was still in 
operation in Adelanto tied a lot of illness to the extremely foul smells 
emanating from the facility at the time.

Now, though, people are going so far as to claim that an open-air composting 
facility can spread any number of pathogens and diseases. HIV was even 
invoked, a ridiculous claim that has no basis in science. There is no risk 
of exposure to HIV from a compost facility, unless you have unprotected sex 
or share drug needles with an employee infected with the virus.

There are two significant differences between the proposed facility outside 
Hinkley and the one in Adelanto: The Hinkley facility is eight miles away 
from the town, according to its operators (The Adelanto facility was in a 
residential area -- one complaining neighbor lived only three miles away); 
and the company has stopped accepted some of the waste that made the worst 
smells as it decomposed.

Does this mean we're saying Hinkley should just trust Nursery Products? 
Absolutely not. Some residents aren't trying to kill the project entirely, 
but are asking for a third change -- containing the facility. Nursery 
Products is balking, and its operators are saying it's a costly change that 
doesn't really make much of a difference.

But we recommend that Nursery Products consider containing the facility and 
here's why: This composting demand is based primarily on a state mandate for 
local governments to direct a large chunk of its waste away from dump sites. 
Composting isn't going away anytime soon unless the state law changes, an 
extremely unlikely event. Given that California governments are going to 
keep using composting services to reduce the amount of waste they produce, 
Nursery Products will likely have good demand for its services for some time 
and should be able to make the investment.

In case anybody has forgotten about the issue of the nitrate pollution in 
the groundwater in Barstow, its a result of our solid wastes being spread on 
fields as fertilizer, among other things. That method of waste redirection 
turned out to be a health hazard, and we need new plans, such as composting. 
Indeed, Nursery Products representatives told us that the City of Barstow 
was once one of their customers.

As for Hinkley residents, our recommendation is to be skeptical and 
vigilant, but not paranoid. If the facility turns out to be a problem, the 
community is absolutely not stuck with it. There's a feeling, especially 
from unincorporated High Desert residents so far removed from the county 
seat in San Bernardino, that there's very little interest in residents' 
issues. But both Adelanto and Newberry Springs have shown that if it turns 
out Nursery Products is a problem, it can be taken care of.

Scott Shackford

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Editorial: Hinkley needs to be vigilant, but rational about compost facility
As most area residents are aware, the small community of Hinkley was made 
famous in the movie "Erin Brockovich" from a nasty battle over Chromium 6 
groundwater pollution.

Now a composting company, Nursery Products, wants to move a few miles west 
of Hinkley, and residents are in fear that the way the company handles solid 
waste is a new hazard to the community.

Nursery Products has a troubled history in the High Desert. Its facility in 
Adelanto became a flashpoint of complaints from residents about the foul 
odor and the spread of debris, and the city, as well as the power company 
sitting right next to the composting facility, fought to convince them to 
leave.

In 2005 Nursery Products agreed to relocate in a more rural area. 
Originally, they targeted Newberry Springs, but residents objected and 
fought back. Now they're considering an area eight miles west of Hinkley, 
and residents there are fighting back, too.

We definitely feel for Hinkley residents worried about their safety, though 
we're a bit concerned that some fears have been exaggerated. In Adelanto, 
the complaints centered around the horrible smell and the effect it had on 
the community, particularly children. A look through coverage by our sister 
paper in Victorville, the Daily Press, when Nursery Products was still in 
operation in Adelanto tied a lot of illness to the extremely foul smells 
emanating from the facility at the time.

Now, though, people are going so far as to claim that an open-air composting 
facility can spread any number of pathogens and diseases. HIV was even 
invoked, a ridiculous claim that has no basis in science. There is no risk 
of exposure to HIV from a compost facility, unless you have unprotected sex 
or share drug needles with an employee infected with the virus.

There are two significant differences between the proposed facility outside 
Hinkley and the one in Adelanto: The Hinkley facility is eight miles away 
from the town, according to its operators (The Adelanto facility was in a 
residential area -- one complaining neighbor lived only three miles away); 
and the company has stopped accepted some of the waste that made the worst 
smells as it decomposed.

Does this mean we're saying Hinkley should just trust Nursery Products? 
Absolutely not. Some residents aren't trying to kill the project entirely, 
but are asking for a third change -- containing the facility. Nursery 
Products is balking, and its operators are saying it's a costly change that 
doesn't really make much of a difference.

But we recommend that Nursery Products consider containing the facility and 
here's why: This composting demand is based primarily on a state mandate for 
local governments to direct a large chunk of its waste away from dump sites. 
Composting isn't going away anytime soon unless the state law changes, an 
extremely unlikely event. Given that California governments are going to 
keep using composting services to reduce the amount of waste they produce, 
Nursery Products will likely have good demand for its services for some time 
and should be able to make the investment.

In case anybody has forgotten about the issue of the nitrate pollution in 
the groundwater in Barstow, its a result of our solid wastes being spread on 
fields as fertilizer, among other things. That method of waste redirection 
turned out to be a health hazard, and we need new plans, such as composting. 
Indeed, Nursery Products representatives told us that the City of Barstow 
was once one of their customers.

As for Hinkley residents, our recommendation is to be skeptical and 
vigilant, but not paranoid. If the facility turns out to be a problem, the 
community is absolutely not stuck with it. There's a feeling, especially 
from unincorporated High Desert residents so far removed from the county 
seat in San Bernardino, that there's very little interest in residents' 
issues. But both Adelanto and Newberry Springs have shown that if it turns 
out Nursery Products is a problem, it can be taken care of.

Scott Shackford

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Editorial: Hinkley needs to be vigilant, but rational about compost facility
As most area residents are aware, the small community of Hinkley was made 
famous in the movie "Erin Brockovich" from a nasty battle over Chromium 6 
groundwater pollution.

Now a composting company, Nursery Products, wants to move a few miles west 
of Hinkley, and residents are in fear that the way the company handles solid 
waste is a new hazard to the community.

Nursery Products has a troubled history in the High Desert. Its facility in 
Adelanto became a flashpoint of complaints from residents about the foul 
odor and the spread of debris, and the city, as well as the power company 
sitting right next to the composting facility, fought to convince them to 
leave.

In 2005 Nursery Products agreed to relocate in a more rural area. 
Originally, they targeted Newberry Springs, but residents objected and 
fought back. Now they're considering an area eight miles west of Hinkley, 
and residents there are fighting back, too.

We definitely feel for Hinkley residents worried about their safety, though 
we're a bit concerned that some fears have been exaggerated. In Adelanto, 
the complaints centered around the horrible smell and the effect it had on 
the community, particularly children. A look through coverage by our sister 
paper in Victorville, the Daily Press, when Nursery Products was still in 
operation in Adelanto tied a lot of illness to the extremely foul smells 
emanating from the facility at the time.

Now, though, people are going so far as to claim that an open-air composting 
facility can spread any number of pathogens and diseases. HIV was even 
invoked, a ridiculous claim that has no basis in science. There is no risk 
of exposure to HIV from a compost facility, unless you have unprotected sex 
or share drug needles with an employee infected with the virus.

There are two significant differences between the proposed facility outside 
Hinkley and the one in Adelanto: The Hinkley facility is eight miles away 
from the town, according to its operators (The Adelanto facility was in a 
residential area -- one complaining neighbor lived only three miles away); 
and the company has stopped accepted some of the waste that made the worst 
smells as it decomposed.

Does this mean we're saying Hinkley should just trust Nursery Products? 
Absolutely not. Some residents aren't trying to kill the project entirely, 
but are asking for a third change -- containing the facility. Nursery 
Products is balking, and its operators are saying it's a costly change that 
doesn't really make much of a difference.

But we recommend that Nursery Products consider containing the facility and 
here's why: This composting demand is based primarily on a state mandate for 
local governments to direct a large chunk of its waste away from dump sites. 
Composting isn't going away anytime soon unless the state law changes, an 
extremely unlikely event. Given that California governments are going to 
keep using composting services to reduce the amount of waste they produce, 
Nursery Products will likely have good demand for its services for some time 
and should be able to make the investment.

In case anybody has forgotten about the issue of the nitrate pollution in 
the groundwater in Barstow, its a result of our solid wastes being spread on 
fields as fertilizer, among other things. That method of waste redirection 
turned out to be a health hazard, and we need new plans, such as composting. 
Indeed, Nursery Products representatives told us that the City of Barstow 
was once one of their customers.

As for Hinkley residents, our recommendation is to be skeptical and 
vigilant, but not paranoid. If the facility turns out to be a problem, the 
community is absolutely not stuck with it. There's a feeling, especially 
from unincorporated High Desert residents so far removed from the county 
seat in San Bernardino, that there's very little interest in residents' 
issues. But both Adelanto and Newberry Springs have shown that if it turns 
out Nursery Products is a problem, it can be taken care of.

Scott Shackford

http://www.desertdispatch.com/2006/116118115974323.html