Sludge Watch ==> Imperial Valley- Non Resident Dog Training Club Versus Biomass Plant

[Maureen Reilly]

Outside donors fighting sludge
FUNDING:
Much cash comes from non-residents.

By JONATHAN ATHENS
Staff Writer Imperial Valley Press

NILAND — The political battle over a proposed $90 million sludge-burning 
plant in Niland is partly going to the dogs.
  Or perhaps some of this fight is over dogs.

  The passion underlying efforts to stop Bakersfieldbased Liberty Energy 
from building a 15-megawatt sludge-burning electric plant in this small 
community are driven by a local grassroots group that calls itself Imperial 
Valley Residents for Health and Safety First.

  But the big money the grassroots group has collected to convince the 
public that Liberty Energy’s proposal is a bad idea comes from outsiders, 
specifically championship dog trainers and winter visitors who own land in 
the vicinity where the plant would be built.

  Imperial Valley Residents for Health and Safety First collected roughly 
$17,000 from those out- of- town contributors, according

to the organization’s financial disclosure forms that were posted on its Web 
site. But the total amount of cash the organization collected, including 
contributions from outsiders, is actually higher — $21,102, according to the 
state mandated campaign disclosure forms filed with the Imperial County 
Elections Office and available to the public upon request.
  Most of that money came from contributors who live outside the county and 
in some cases outside California, in states such as Utah, Oregon, 
Washington, Idaho and Montana, according to the filing.

  “They just came to us,” said Monique Lopez, an Imperial resident and 
spokeswoman for the grassroots opposition group.

  Lopez said the organization has not solicited for contributions here or 
elsewhere. She said she expects more local residents will contribute to 
their cause in the near future.
  “I do expect there will be more local donors,” Lopez said, adding local 
volunteers are the driving force behind the group despite the cash coming 
from outsiders.
  The figures were brought to the attention of the Imperial Valley Press by
Liberty Energy spokeswoman Sue Giller.

  “My take is we’ve worked for months to give people the facts so they can 
make a well-reasoned choice. … The fact that it is being funded by outsiders 
who apparently want to keep Imperial Valley their playground rather than 
letting the community decide what’s best for our future is troubling,” 
Giller said.

  “I think people have been misled about the nature of the opposition,” 
Giller said.
  One of those out- oftown property owners said he opposes Liberty Energy’s 
proposed plant because he said he believes such a facility is incompatible 
with the area.
  “It just upsets everything. … It affected property values,” said J.P. 
Augustyn, an Irwindale business executive who co-owns 80 acres of land at 
the southwest corner of English and Winslow roads.
  Augustyn, according to financial records, gave $6,000 to Imperial Valley 
Residents for Health and Safety First.


  He and other dog trainers use their land , similar to campgrounds, to 
conduct field training for Labrador retrievers between November and April.

  Liberty Energy has said its proposed plant will generate jobs and bring 
and estimated $190 million into the local economy over the next 10 years. 
Liberty’s ambitious plans could come to a halt if voters approve in February 
an ordinance that would ban importation and disposal of sludge. But there is 
still a question as to how binding such a public vote would be. Imperial 
County officials have said they think the ordinance would be 
unconstitutional.

  Imperial Valley Residents for Health and Safety First succeeded in 
collecting more than 2,000 signatures to get the ordinance on the ballot.

  The county, through a consultant paid for by Liberty Energy, is conducting 
an environmental impact report of the potential impacts the proposed sludge 
plant would have in the area. The report is slated to be finished and made 
public in November, four months before voters will decide on the proposed 
sludge importation ban.