Hinkley Residents files suit against the County

Now is the right time to walk the talk and contribute financially. I believe the City of Barstow should also step up to the plate. I will consult with the City Attorney to see if it would be possible to use public funds to help fight this battle since this project would ultimatley have an adverse impact with the City of Barstow and bring discuss at the next council meeting. I commend the citizens for having the courage to stand up and fight. Joe

Suit filed to stop sludge Hinkley residents keep up fight against plant Andrew Silva, Staff Writer Article Launched: 03/30/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT Hoping to stop a plan to convert human waste into fertilizer eight miles from their town, residents of Hinkley filed suit Thursday to stop the project. "The county did not listen," said Norman Diaz, a Hinkley resident who helped lead the opposition. "This was our only way to stop Nursery Products." Apple Valley-based Nursery Products LLC received approval from the county Board of Supervisors Feb. 27 to establish a facility on 160 acres off Highway 58 to process highly treated sewage sludge. Hinkley was made famous by the movie "Erin Brockovich," which depicted how the tiny community 25 miles from Barstow was affected by groundwater contamination from a PG&E plant, leading to one of the largest direct-action lawsuit settlements in history. Residents saw the proposal to process sewage sludge in the desert nearby as another attack on their health. Despite a five-hour public hearing during which scores of residents pleaded with the Board of Supervisors, the project was approved on a 4-0 vote. The facility was to be eight miles away, too far to be a threat to the residents' health, the board members said. The suit was filed against the county by HelpHinkley.org and the The environmental review did not state all the health threats or evaluate all the pollution the project will generate, said Kassie Siegel, a staff attorney for the center in its Joshua Tree office. Greenhouse gases should have been analyzed, given the state's commitment to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, she said. Up to 400,000 tons of biosolids per year would be composted into fertilizer on a site one mile south of Highway 58 and west of Helendale Road. If biosolids are treated and handled properly, they pose no threat to human health, Alan Rubin testified at the hearing. He helped write the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regulations on biosolids. The company still needs to get permits from six agencies before it can begin accepting biosolids from sewage treatment plants, said Chris Seney, operations manager for Nursery Products. "I feel very confident in the county's environmental impact report," he said. "I think they've done a very thorough job." Such an open-air composting facility would not be allowed under air quality rules in the San Bernardino Valley. But the High Desert is served by the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District, which still allows large-scale outdoor composting. The Mojave air district had planned on looking at how much it would cost to control emissions from composting operations in August 2008. On Monday, the air district's board of directors decided to look at the issue before then. District staffers will tell the board next month how long the analysis will take.