January 9, 2008 - 5:48PM
HINKLEY — Norm Diaz crouched down beside a plastic bucket at Hinkley School on Wednesday and inflated a plastic bag with air.
Dozens of students, teachers and members of HelpHinkley.org crowded
around him watching him gather samples for an air test. They hope the
samples will prove that Hinkley’s air is clean and plan to send the
sample off to a private lab for testing.
HelpHinkley.org members are concerned that the proposed Nursey Products
biosolids composting facility to be built near the town will add to air
pollution and create odors, claims that Nursery Products denies.
“We want to be able to prove that our air here is clean before this thing comes in so we can fight it,” Diaz said.
He said that the group is concerned that the regional air board
does not test the air directly in Hinkley, instead using a monitoring
station in Barstow.
“They’ve said this (project) won’t affect our air quality, now we’ll see,” he said.
Diaz said the group is being supported in its air test initiative by
the non-profit group Global Community Monitor, whose Bucket Brigade
project assists communities in performing their own air tests. He said
HelpHinkley.org wanted to involve local students in the testing to
educate them as well as to win their support.
Violette Roberts, spokeswoman for the Mojave Desert Air Quality
Management District, said that while the district is open to reviewing
HelpHinkley.org’s test results, the district’s own regional tests show
the air to be very clean.
”I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of the testing method that’s
being used,” she said. “It would be a fair guess to say that the air is
actually cleaner and more healthful in the Hinkley area.”
She said that agricultural and vehicle-related emissions represent
some of the largest sources of air pollution in Hinkley, something she
doesn’t expect to change if the composting plant opens.
“We don’t believe that the composting facility will bring about any
added pollution to the region,” she said. “We are more concerned about
odors and nuisances. We don’t believe that this particular project will
adversely affect human health, if it operates as it is spelled out in
the Environmental Impact Report.”
Chris Seney, director of operations for Nursery Products, said that
he anticipates any air test in Hinkley to show the air to be clean and
expects it to stay that way once the facility is operating.
I’m not sure what he’s trying to prove with this,” he said of Diaz’s air test.
Nursery Products officials have repeatedly said that the composting
plant will not negatively affect air quality or bring extra dust,
noxious odors and flies to Hinkley.
“We produce less dust than a farm. There’s more pollution on the
freeway than what’s going to be produced from our facility,” Seney
said.
He said that by allowing cities in San Bernardino county to ship
their biosolids to the Hinkley plant, the shorter distance will prevent
millions of miles driven by trucks, improving air quality.
“In the big picture were actually reducing truck traffic and air pollution,” he said.
Hinkley School eighth-grader Anissa Wells attended the air test and
said she doesn’t think it’s fair that the facility is planned close to
her school and town.
“I think it’s going to be a big problem,” she said. “Hinkley’s small, but there’s really a lot of people here.”
At the school, the composting plant is a frequent topic of
discussion both in class and in weekly schoolwide assemblies, said
principal Dennis Hirsch. Several hundred elementary students attended
the air test, posing for pictures behind a large protest banner made by
HelpHinkley.org.
“We are totally against the facility here at the school,” Hirsch
said. “The kids just need to learn it’s a threat to the quality of life
here.”
Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4126 or jason_smith@link.freedom.com
| 
