Nursery Products LLC- Sludge from LA

After a months of protesting the Nursery Products LLC., 8 miles west of Hinkley, Ca., the San Bernardino County Supervisors voted unanimously to allow the sludge facility, despite opposition from over 200 residents, Barstow City Council and several other agencies. Only time will tell how this decision will effect Barstow and the surrounding areas. Joe San Bernardino County OKs desert sewage sludge composting plant Residents of Hinkley, near the proposed facility, protest the decision in vain. By Sara Lin, Times Staff WriterFebruary 28, 2007 Map The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of a proposed sewage sludge composting plant that would be built eight miles outside the high desert town of Hinkley, despite strong objections from residents worried about potential health hazards."I think this will end up being the best project possible under the circumstances," said Board Chairman Paul Biane.The town was made famous by activist Erin Brockovich, who helped force Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to pay a multimillion-dollar settlement for allegedly polluting the town's groundwater and causing serious health problems for residents. That successful effort was later made into the movie "Erin Brockovich," starring Julia Roberts.Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, whose district includes Hinkley, said he wasn't convinced that composting sludge would harm the community."The project, as I see it, is a cost-effective and environmentally efficient way to recycle biosolids and green waste. It's a benefit to the county; it will save landfill space," he said.The supervisors voted 4 to 0 in favor of the project. Supervisor Gary Ovitt was absent and the only supervisor not to vote.Apple Valley-based Nursery Products LLC plans to compost sludge — the cake-like material left over after raw sewage is treated at a sanitation plant — on 80 acres of Mojave Desert outside Hinkley.Residents of Hinkley and nearby Barstow — communities that are downwind of the proposed facility — fear that strong desert winds will blow odors and bacteria-laden dust into the air, making people sick. Under the current plan, San Bernardino and Riverside counties could unload 400,000 tons of sludge per year at the facility.About 120 people — middle school children wearing anti-sludge T-shirts, elected officials from Barstow, and Hinkley residents wearing cowboy hats — made the two-hour trip south to attend Tuesday's often-tense meeting."You tell me that if your kids and your family lived downwind of this thing that you wouldn't be standing where I'm standing," said Hinkley resident Norman Diaz, his voice cracking as he spoke against the project.His 7-year-old twin sons stood on either side of him as he addressed the board."It's just too dangerous; it's just not worth the risks. This is a bad project that needs to be stopped."A lawyer for Nursery Products, David Hagopian, at times heckled by the audience, assured the board that composting did not pose a health threat to desert residents.The proposed facility fulfills an important need for sludge composting plants in Southern California, he said, and would produce agricultural-grade compost to be used on local farms."Biosolids are not raw sewage," he said. "The bottom line is that composting biosolids is safe. We're far away from people, and communities and from industry."Brockovich was in Australia and unable to attend the meeting, said Diaz, who is leading the charge against Nursery Products.A Brockovich aide read her statement to the board: "Citizens in this area already have compromised immune systems. They moved to a town with open land and open air hoping to have a safe place for their children to visit. Please put yourself in their shoes."In a public hearing that lasted more than four hours, residents opposed to the project pointed to the company's history with the city of Adelanto, where city officials sued in 2005 to close a similar facility there after residents complained of odors and flies.The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which had a switching station 200 yards from the Adelanto facility, also filed suit after workers' eyes itched and their noses ran because of dust and odors, said DWP attorney S. David Hotchkiss.Nursery Products representatives said the odor and fly problems evaporated after they stopped accepting curbside green waste.