Sludge Watch ==> Meeting in Hinkley held to discuss Nursery Products Sludge 'Compost' Site

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Residents of Hinkley are up in arms about the proposed massive open air 
sludge drying site proposed for their area of the Mojave Desert.  Many 
residents are still extremely ill from exposure to chromium 6 in the water 
supply, soil, and air from the local waste management practices of PG&E 
(this is the little town Erin Brokovich made infamous).

Picture this: desert winds whipping up the sludge dusts, the fecal fragments 
and hurling them against the local school yards, homes, and ponds.  Every 
home has a 'swamp cooler'.  Those of you unfamiliar with the south need to 
know that a swamp cooler is an energy efficient machine that cools the air 
by moving it over a wet filter.  Imagine your home, office, school air 
filter as a breeding ground of sludge spread bacteria.   Ecoli, salmonella - 
you name it, blowing over you and your children 24 hours a day, waking and 
sleeping.

Nice, eh?

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Friday, October 13, 2006

Meeting in Hinkley held to discuss Nursery Products

By STEVIE ST. JOHN City Editor Desert Dispatch - Barstow Calif

HINKLEY -- Elementary students toted picket signs through the room. 
Residents of Hinkley and surrounding areas shouted their objections. Several 
queued up to voice strongly worded objections with a few four-letter words, 
some considered more polite than others, describing the processed human 
waste that's settled in local vernacular as sludge.
David Marx, the project manager of the draft Environmental Report (EIR) 
concerning the proposed composting facility in Hinkley, said he's worked on 
reports for hazardous-waste facilities and other projects involving solid 
waste and composting. Wednesday night's three-hour meeting at Hinkley 
Elementary School was a "pretty typical" meeting for a small community where 
a project such as Nursery Product's composting facility is proposed. Marx is 
the vice president of environmental management for URS, the company that the 
county hired to do the EIR.
The meeting, which also included county employees, sought to answer 
questions about the draft EIR and the process that Nursery Products faces. 
The planning commission could give the facility the OK; otherwise, Nursery 
Products might face getting approval from the Board of Supervisors.
The crowd, however, was more interested in making a point. Most of those 
present rose to their feet when someone asked for a showing of who opposed 
the facility.
Marx said that he thinks the facility's impact on the area would be minimal 
and that the report looked at ways to prevent problems.
The EIR found that the facility would have a significant effect on air 
quality. Marx said that it is difficult for projects of this size not to 
violate Southern California's standards for the release of volatile organic 
compounds (VOCs), which are released when organic matter decomposes and are 
a key component of smog.
VOCs, he said, are not solely an issue in this type of project; they 
released from cars and landfills. Baking gives off VOCs as well.
Carrie Hyke, an employee of San Bernardino County's Land Use Services 
Department, urged those with concerns to submit them in writing. Law 
requires the final draft of the EIR to respond to all received comments. 
Comments are due by 5 p.m. on November 9. Comments should be sent to Carrie 
Hyke, San Bernardino County Land Use Services Department, Advance Planning 
Division, 385 N. Arrowhead Avenue, First Floor, San Bernardino, CA, 
92415-0182.

http://www.desertdispatch.com/2006/11607463349481.html