I spent a few hours at the County Health Department's Division of Environmental Health, reading through the CCCI file. I was curious to see what the corporation and the County had been up to since the Board of Supervisors heard the appeal and approved the project in April, 1998. I noticed that CCCI has continued to mine soil at their Guntley Ranch site to mix in with their product. They have persisted in soil mining despite a warning from the County that the unpermitted soil mining must stop.
In the August, 15, 1998 Report of Facility Information, the mitigation regarding testing the Masonite ash, as written and approved in the EIR, has been changed, after the fact. It now states, "Masonite ash will also be tested prior to acceptance if burning fuels other than clean wood, oil, natural gas and residue from their manufacturing process." The word "oil" is an addition. It refers to Fuel Oil #6, a dirty waste oil. Oil was deleted as a mitigation measure in the EIR, but that dirty little word has now reappeared in the Masonite ash mitigation. This allows the International Paper subsidiary to burn fuel oil without notifying the Lead Enforcement Agency or being required to retest what CCCI calls "wood ash."
The Compost Facility Inspection Report of 8-25-98 states that CCCI was in violation of (PRC44002) "Operator has not complied with condition #2, application for Solid Waste Facilities permit is past due. The report notes an area of concern: "Ash must be covered with tarps for dust control." The covering of Masonite boiler and scrubber ash is a mitigation to protect the public from airborne particulates. The Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors approved the EIR expecting this mitigation to take place.
On 9/21/98, Martin Mileck, owner-operator of CCCI, submitted a standard permit application for the overdue Solid Waste Facilities Permit. Under the type of materials to be handled, Mr. Mileck included: biosolids, fishery wastes, street sweepings and restaurant wastes. In certifying the EIR, the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors specifically deleted those feedstocks from the project. On 10-15-98, John Morley, of Environmental Health, stated in a letter to Mileck, "At this time the LEA cannot accept the application for filing." Besides the addition of prohibited feedstocks there were also other items that needed to be addressed. There was "no mention of sampling for pathogen reduction compliance and no odor management plan."
On 11-19-98, John Morley sent a registered letter to Mileck regarding CCCI's still overdue Solid Waste Facility Permit application. It stated, "This is the first notice informing you of our intent to issue a Cease and Desist Order against Cold Creek Compost, Inc. (Operator) on December 31, 1998 if by that date the operator does not have an application for solid waste facility permit that has been deemed completed and correct by the Local Enforcement Agency."
On 11-30-98, during a storm event, John Morley inspected CCCI. He found "Approximately 2,000 yards of post pathogen reduction compost stored outside the roof structure with no tarp cover." This is a violation of mitigation measure 3.2.1(a). The report also states, "Mitigation Measure 3.2.1.(c) referred to North Coast Regional Water Quality Control (NCRWQCB). Compost pad has not been swept. No evidence that pad was scraped. Residual compost material mingled with compost pad soil contributing to leachate running off compost pad. Leachate flow primarily in northern direction." Morley had taken several photos of oozing brown leachate flowing off the compost pad. The pictures are truly worth a thousand words. These violations are typical of the "Best Management Practices" of CCCI. The MEC repeatedly warned the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors about that, to no avail.
I asked John Morley if CCCI would be fined for these blatant violations. He said it was no longer up to Environmental Health and the NCRWQCB is the agency that now addresses the fines. I then asked him if the Supervisors could act. Morley said that in May, 1999Ñone year after the Board approved the Use PermitÑchief planner for the project, Pam Townsend, will report to the Board on CCCI. Until then it's up to the public to call the Board's attention to CCCI.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1999
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited