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Red Bluff Daily News October 11, 2005
See Also: Document: Appeal of Inentec permit Red Bluff Daily News, 10/12/05: Citizens send loud message to county Red Bluff Daily News, 10/11/05: EDITORIAL: County should require EIR on InEnTec project Red Bluff Daily News, 9/9/05: InEnTec opponents air their concerns Red Bluff Daily News, 9/10/05: InEnTec appeal date set Red Bluff Daily News, 7/12/05: S.F. group calls for more thorough review of InEnTec For more information, contact:
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EDITORIAL: County should require EIR on InEnTec project Prudent should be today's word of the day. Regardless of tonight's meeting on the appeal of InEnTec's permits to operate a medical waste facility, we know this much to be true people are going to be mad. The epitome of the situation could be boiled down (no pun intended) to one simple example. A citizens' group that is appealing the county's issuance of permits to InEnTec understood they would have a public comment period at 6:30 p.m. today at the Red Bluff Community and Senior Center. Members even circulated fliers with the 6:30 p.m. time. But late last week, the county moved up the public comment period an hour per Tehama County Counsel Will Murphy's decision. While the county may view this as an opportunity to provide citizens with "a whole hour for public comment," the citizens are suspicious. We can see why. If people show up at the advertised time, it would be too late to comment thus limiting public input. One thing is said and then it is changed a few days before the meeting. Talk about a fluid agenda. Not prudent. We do not think concerned citizens are paranoid at all. While we have given the county the benefit of the doubt up until now, we think the county should grant the citizens' appeal and require an Environmental Impact Report on this project, which is just south of Red Bluff. Remember, be prudent. Red Bluff and Tehama County are growing faster and faster. Businesses and investors are looking to break ground in Tehama County the land is still relatively cheap and this is a beautiful place. But we should all greet this growth with cautious optimism. The county has waited for growth, so why rush it now? While we support business, we urge local and county government to take a critical look at new projects. In the end, this will benefit current and future businesses in Tehama County. If we are wrong, then at least it will benefit residents, who in turn pay the taxes. In other parts of the state, quality of life has become a nostalgic phrase. Sounds like a reasonable request here. Tehama County has a chance to reconsider and be prudent. In Red Bluff right now, Wal-Mart is going through the effort of an EIR and the city wants to boost user fees to collect gobs of money it has been passing on until now. Corning also wants more money out of developers and construction projects. That's great for keeping government agencies staffed, but what about taxpayers's services? Shouldn't citizens expect a higher level of scrutiny for project requests? We think so. Finally, if the county has any doubts about the InEnTec project, we hope it will consider the message from a Sept. 28 letter from the Air Resources Board. It reads, "We understand that the permitting of the InEnTec facility is a local decision ... However, given the complexity of the plasma technology and its emission control system, the non-homogenous nature of the process feedstock, the potential for toxic emissions and the resulting public health concerns, and the potential for multiple projects to be sited statewide, we believe that a more thorough review by the Air Resources Board (ARB) staff would be prudent." Yes,
we believe that prudent should be the word of the day. That's seems
reasonable to us. We hope the county thinks so too and calls
for an EIR. |
