Disputed compost plant gets water board permit

VICTORVILLE • The company behind a disputed composting plant proposed near Hinkley obtained one of the last permits representatives say it needs before construction can begin.

However, the chairman of a citizens group opposing the project says its members will monitor the site to make sure the permit’s requirements are met. The company also has more hurdles to clear before it can break ground, according to the chairman.

The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board voted 5-1-1 Wednesday in favor of granting a waste discharge permit to Nursery Products LLC for its proposed sewage composting plant. Board member Eric Sandel from Truckee dissented. Member Amy Horne, also from Truckee, abstained.

The permit requires Nursery Products to catch any rain that falls on the 80-acre site using a retention pond and a berm. The pond has to be lined to prevent water seeping into the ground. The berm is also required to keep any water from entering the site. Nursery Products also has to install wells to monitor the quality of the groundwater and the pond water, said Chris Seney, Nursery Products’ director of operations.

At the meeting, Sandel said Nursery Products should be given a short-term permit that would require them to renew it, said Harold Singer, the board’s executive officer. Sandel also said the facility should be enclosed, something members of the group HelpHinkley.org argued for at the meeting.

HelpHinkley.org will monitor the site to make sure it complies with the permit’s requirements, said Chairman Norm Diaz Thursday.

“They all know we’ll be watching this very carefully,” he said. “Lahontan is one of the most non-biased boards that’s watching this. They’ll shut this down for nuisance on dust, on flies, on a whole myriad of issues that don’t have to do directly with water.”

Diaz said Nursery Products can’t begin construction until a Fourth District Court of Appeals judge rules on a supplemental environmental impact report approved by the San Bernardino County Planning Commission in December. That decision is expected in May, he said. The Board of Supervisors will then decide whether to approve the report.

Seney said if the appeals judge dismisses the case, the Planning Commission’s approval would hold. A Board of Supervisors’ decision wouldn’t be necessary, he said.

“If the appeal doesn’t get completely thrown out, then we would have to go before the Board of Supervisors to approve the supplemental EIR,” he said. “We sort of have an either-or option.”

Nursery Products was required to complete a supplemental environmental impact report as a result of a lawsuit filed by HelpHinkley.org in 2007. The report addresses water supply, the economic feasibility of enclosing the site and the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions.

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(760) 256-4123 or jcejnar@desertdispatch.com