[USCC] Fwd: Opposition to Composting in Hinkley arises

[Jim McNelly]

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>Opposition to Composting in Hinkley arises
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>Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer
>San Bernardino County Sun
>Article Launched:10/13/2006 12:00:00 AM PDT
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>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.
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>"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.
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>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.
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>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.
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>"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."
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>He noted in an interview Thursday that bacteria in biosolids create 
>a bio-chemical reaction that raises the temperatures of the material.
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>"The composting process destroys all pathogenic bacteria," Rubin 
>said. "The process is absolutely safe."
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>While Wednesday night's meeting was designed to explain the 
>environmental review process, residents arrived with signs 
>denouncing the project.
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>"Hinkley is not a dumping ground for toxic wastes," one placard stated.
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>"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."
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>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.
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>"This project is an endangered species eradication plan," declared 
>John Coffey, a resident of nearby Grandview. "It will wipe out the 
>endangered desert tortoise."
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>Calling the composting procedures "junk science," Coffey said, "Now 
>that we've heard the environmental report, it's time to consider litigation."
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>Attorney Robert Conaway, who lives in Hinkley, said the 
>environmental report could be challenged because it does not have a 
>Spanish-language version.
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>"About 38 percent of Hinkley area residents are Hispanic, and were 
>not able to understand it," he said.
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>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.
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>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.
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>That drew a shout from the crowd: "Capabilities? They have money!"
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>Brian Lochrie, spokesman for Nursery Products, said the composting 
>operations are safe. "If they weren't, the facility wouldn't be opened."
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>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.
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>"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."
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><http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_4485695>http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_4485695