Portions of composting facility review start again

HINKLEY • San Bernardino County is beginning to revisit parts of its environmental review of a proposed composting facility near Hinkley that has been an ongoing subject of controversy and litigation.

Following a lawsuit by groups opposed to the proposed Nursery Products Hawes Composting Facility, Judge John P. Vander Feer of the San Bernardino County Superior Court ordered the county in April of 2008 to put the project on hold until it could address two issues not included in the original environmental impact report for the project.

The judge ordered the county to identify a water supply for the project and to look at the feasibility of building an enclosed rather than open-air facility, a measure that some Hinkley residents had pushed for. However, he found that the existing environmental report adequately addressed the issues of air quality and impacts on endangered species, and that a reduction in the project size from 160 to 80 acres did not call for a new environmental review process as the project opponents had argued.

The county announced Monday that it will begin preparing a supplemental environmental impact report after a 30-day public comment period.

As well as the water and enclosure issue, the new report will look at impacts of the project on global warming. That portion was not ordered by the court, but Carrie Hyke, a principal planner with the county’s land use services department, said because of growing concern about climate change, standards of environmental review have changed since the initial report was prepared in 2006.

Hinkley resident Norm Diaz, who has been one of the most visible opponents of the composting facility, said his group, HelpHinkley.org, felt that the county should have to prepare an entirely new impact report. The group will be actively commenting on the supplemental report throughout the process.

Diaz said despite Vander Feer’s decision, the group remains concerned about a range of potential environmental impacts including air quality, water quality and usage issues and impacts on endangered species, Diaz said.

“To us, it’s very straightforward,” he said. “There are (composting facilities) that want to do it enclosed, so it is economically feasible to do it enclosed.”

Nursery Products Director of Operations Chris Seney said once the project is built, local people will see that it is environmentally friendly — it is expected to run entirely on solar power — and will bring well-paid jobs to the area.

Hyke anticipated that it will be another six to nine months before the supplemental report is completed and approved by the board of county supervisors.

In the meantime, the county and Nursery Products are appealing the judge’s ruling that forced it to prepare a supplemental report, but it is likely that the report will be finished before the appeal is over, Seney said.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or asewell@desertdispatch.com

To comment

Comments to be included in the draft supplemental environmental impact report for the proposed Nursery Products Hawes Composting Facility must be sent no later than April 13 to: Carrie Hyke, principal planner with San Bernardino County Land Use Services Department, Advance Planning Division, 385 N. Arrowhead Avenue, First Floor, San Bernardino, CA 92415-0182.

After the draft report is done, the public will have another 45 days to review it and make comments before the final report is prepared.