Mired in protest

Mired in protest
Passionate residents speak at meeting against sewage site
By GRETCHEN WENNER and VIC POLLARD, Californian staff writers
e-mail: gwenner@bakersfield.com; vpollard@bakersfield.com

Posted: Tuesday March 1st, 2005, 11:30 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday March 1st, 2005, 11:48 PM


First, the outcome.

Kern County supervisors Tuesday unanimously rejected a proposed $35 million tax-exempt, low-interest bond to finance a sludge plant outside Taft.

The 5-0 denial means Synagro Technologies Inc. will have to find new financing for its sewage composting project.

The so-called South Kern Industrial Center plant was scheduled to open early next year. The unbuilt facility is permitted to accept 397,000 wet tons of treated human sewage, or biosolids, a year.

The sludge would be trucked into Kern from Southern California communities.

Now, the drama.

Before the 2 p.m. session, Bernice Bonillas stood with a toilet seat around her neck outside the big glass doors of the downtown county administrative building. She offered anyone walking up the steps a new toilet brush, cardboard store tags still attached.

Bonillas, a local Democratic party leader, was one of a group protesting sludge imports from the Southland.

Some 450,000 wet tons of sludge were trucked into Kern from Southern California last year alone.

While the pastel-handled brushes were left outside during the meeting, many attendees wore fluorescent pink stickers the size of a business card turned vertical, stamped with a toilet, lid open. A black circle slashed by a bold diagonal line, the universal symbol for "not this," wrapped around the image.

About 20 people spoke against the project. More watched.

No residents spoke in favor of the sludge plant or the proposed tax-exempt bond.

Some quotes:

* "The only winners will be the ones (who) laugh at Kern County," said Paul Linder, a Taft councilman, who also suggested a "steaming pile of manure" be put on Kern County's official seal.

* "Any time I hear the words 'probably' and 'hazards,' I get worried," said Tom Mayo, a Vietnam veteran who said he was speaking for the silent majority.

* "This could be the Wal-Mart of recycling," said Bakersfield resident Lloyd Kingham.

* If this is such a great project, asked Dave Noerr of the Taft City Council, "Why is this chamber not full of people from down south begging them to come back?"

* "I am horrified at the direction we are going with the importation of sludge," said Cyrille Duzen, who was born in 1917 and said she'd seen a lot of history, including the Great Depression and World War II.

* "I can't believe it. I just can't believe it," said Joe Esnoz, sheep rancher and a 72-year resident of Lost Hills, referring to decisions made by supervisors in recent years. Esnoz complained about odors and dust from the San Joaquin Composting Inc. biosolids facility on Holloway Road, which is permitted for 780,000 wet tons of sludge annually. "Why don't you go out there (to Holloway) and have a picnic, a luncheon, out there?"

The board speaks

Before the vote, even veteran board-watchers wondered which way ayes and nays would swing.

In the end, supervisors generally agreed the project didn't provide enough of a "substantial benefit" to residents to earn the board's support for the tax-exempt bond.

Chairman Ray Watson said his rejection came for different reasons.

"I can understand why people really are concerned about the fact we are accepting someone else's problem," Watson said.

But, he added, we consume things here manufactured in other parts of the world that stick those folks with dangerous waste.

Kern residents don't need to take the part of the victim, he said.

"I do think that Synagro is adding some public benefit to the existing condition," he said.

Supervisor Barbara Patrick, who along with Jon McQuiston was a board member in fall 2002 when the plant's county permits were approved, said she'd rather see waste processed at a state-of-the-art facility than be spread over farmland.

But she objected to the tax-exempt bond, in part because it would serve Southern California wastewater districts currently suing Kern for its ban on low-quality sludge.

Supervisor Don Maben, in typically quick fashion, said the project "is not a good use of our public bonding ability," especially when the same money could help build affordable homes for some 5,000 residents on a waiting list.

As expected, Supervisor Michael Rubio voted against the loan. He said after the meeting the outcome was a victory for the people, many of whom took off work to voice their opinions.

After the board's vote, applause filled the chambers.

Meanwhile, up north

Hours earlier Tuesday, the agency that would have issued the $35 million bond had already dealt the Synagro project a setback after objections raised by state Sen. Dean Florez, the Shafter Democrat.

The obscure California Statewide Communities Development Authority rejected a staff recommendation to give the project a preliminary, informal stamp of approval.

Florez told the panel he was concerned the plant could add significantly to the valley's already severe air pollution problems.

Members of the authority, made up of city and county officials from around the state, agreed.

"I'm not ready to make a decision," said Chairman Chris McKenzie.

The panel agreed to consider the issue again at a future meeting after hearing the outcome of Tuesday's vote by Kern supervisors.

"This is a great day for valley residents, especially those who fought to be heard on this issue," Florez said.



A large crowd, most opposed to
the planned biosolids plant near
Taft, was in attendance at
the Board of Supervisors meeting.


http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/5326640p-5353246c.html



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