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County Fines Asphalt Plant

The Mendocino County Air Quality Management District has served Grist Creek Aggregates in Longvale with a Notice of Violation for: operating without a permit; fugitive emissions, and a diesel airborne toxic control measure violation. The county fined the company $21,953.

The most serious violation, operating without a permit, refers to the fact that the Grist Creek/Mercer-Fraser was manufacturing rubberized asphalt with a Crumb Rubber Heating and Blending Unit that was not permitted.

Neighbors say the smell of burning rubber fills the Longvale Valley with noxious fumes every day the plant makes asphalt.

County Air Quality Management District Air Pollution Control Officer Bob Scaglione was out of the office this week and was not available for comment on the Grist Creek Aggregates violations.

Brian Hurt, owner of Grist Creek Aggregates, said he had no comment on the complaints against his company.

Third District Supervisor Tom Woodhouse, who in March urged the board to fast track the plant without requiring a full environmental review, said the county would shut the plant down if the owners cannot “make their product and keep the environment clean.”

Woodhouse believes the system is working.

“I think our air quality and Bob in particular have done a very good job of being responsive to the community and their complaints. And that’s what we had hoped,” Woodhouse said. “When you approve any project like this, it is subject to people obeying all the county and state laws that are applicable.”

One neighbor, Lyn Talkovsky, a member of Friends of Outlet Creek, a neighborhood group that opposed the asphalt plant from the start, said she isn’t sure the system is working. She is skeptical about the county’s commitment to residents, many of whose lives have been profoundly impacted by the plant’s fumes since Grist Creek/Mercer-Fraser begin making rubberized asphalt in September.

She thinks Caltrans should be held accountable for contracting with a company that is in violation of its permit.

“For six weeks Grist Creek has been producing rubberized asphalt, and now the project for Caltrans is done. Is it okay with Caltrans that the company that got the contract with them has been in violation the whole time? Is that the way Caltrans does business? I’m very, very skeptical.”

Talkovsky said Friends of Outlet Creek will continue to fight the plant in court but that the pressure placed on residents near the plant is enormous.

“The system isn’t working,” Talkovsky said. “The level of pollution that people are experiencing is unbelievable. There still hasn’t been a visit by the county air district or a supervisor to a neighbor’s home. We have pictures and videos of dense clouds of emissions in the valley, and it’s all been given to the county and the state and the supervisors. What does it take?”

Kirk Lumpkin is also active in the fight to stop the plant and questioned the value to the neighbors of the $21,953 fine.

“Where does the money go?” Lumpkin said. “It is not going to compensate the neighbors or test the water in the creek or further enhance the environment. It will go to the county which allowed this in the first place.”

Friends of Outlet Creek member and neighboring property owner to the asphalt plant, Glen Colwell, who recently retired from the Bay Area Air Quality District in San Francisco, noted that it is sometimes possible for industry attorneys to negotiate with regulators and request that penalties such as this one be decreased.

“In my opinion, if the county attorneys allow any negotiations to lower penalty costs for Grist Creek Aggregates, which may have willfully violated their permit conditions, it would be inexcusable and add additional insult to the injury already perpetrated on the asphalt plant’s neighbors.” Colwell said.

Another neighbor, Douglas Kerseg, said an attorney advised him that using equipment that is not permitted is fraud.

“We were disturbed that when they were given a notice of violation that they continued to operate,” Kerseg said, referring to the fact that the violation was issued Oct. 21 and the plant continued making rubberized asphalt until Oct. 31. “I tried to get Mr. Scaglione to say why, and he told me they were powerless to stop him. It’s amazing to me that they can have a process that uses equipment that’s not on their permit and they can continue to do so.”

Kerseg said neighbors will continue to fight on despite the high legal fees Friends of Outlet Creek is paying.

“One of our very significant problems is that we have raised and spent huge amounts of money which has gone to legal work, and we have significant liabilities to continue that effort. The toughest part of the equation is not just to spread the word but to be able to continue our legal battle to stop these people from operation.”

Friends of Outlet Creek will hold a community meeting on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 10 a.m., to get to know neighbors and discuss what can be done to stop the negative impacts of the asphalt plant. Location is the large pullout off Highway 162 just east of Highway 101.

Jane Futcher lives in Longvale and is a member of Friends of Outlet Creek.

7 Comments

  1. Lazarus November 5, 2015

    The system works, complaints equaled inspections, which equaled fines, which could equal a shut down…

    All this aside, I’ve really had it with a these aging hippies who have systemically stymied almost every business wanting to come here…yet when confronted about the scourge, the pollutants and thievery of MaryJane, the got nothing to say…
    As always,
    Laz

  2. Jim Updegraff November 5, 2015

    See my comment re: Stupidvisor woodhouse in my comment in Mendocino County Today November 5, 2015

    • Lazarus November 6, 2015

      Jim…Really…?
      Woodhouse aside, the system allowed the place to open. The permits were in place, the reviews had been done, and the rules allowed the plant to open. It was a 5 to zero vote no matter who brought it forward. If they fail the state’s test, regulations and inspections shut the place down until they fix the issues, or not…
      You and others are disappointingly showing your lack of understanding of how the system works. Blaming the messengers is so 1960s, you really need to get out of the County a little more. Maybe Redwood Valley, I hear their going to have a really nice new store, and good prices too.
      As always,
      Laz

  3. Eric Sunswheat November 6, 2015

    Friends of Outlet Creek seem to have good evidence for a case file to sue Grist Creek Aggregates in court for nuisance damages. Businesses that lost out in the Caltrans bidding for the job, may also have standing to sue, because of unfair business competition without a valid permit. Cold Creek Compost’s Martin Mileck learned the hard way that insurance would not cover the penalty against his company for nuisance exposure of noise and smells to the neighbors in Potter Valley. Now Grist Creek Aggregates appears to be ripe for civil court justice.

  4. Jim Updegraff November 6, 2015

    Laz, you missed my point. It was his total lack of concern about the health of the people who lived within range of the asphalt plant.

    • Lazarus November 6, 2015

      I think many are missing the realities of the law. Grist has or had the right to conduct business as the county prescribes on their property. Several of those folks played it to the hilt when the media showed up on their properties wearing mask and such, bet they don’t wear a mask 24/7. And some guy said he contemplated suicide? Let the sheriff give him a 72 hour crazy lockup, see how them smells get him.

      I have trouble being in the vicinity of marijuana grows, raises hell with my breathing, sinus issues, to name a few, but I’ve been threatened by so called guardians of the environment with trouble for complaining to the authorities.

      And the idea that Woodhouse doesn’t care is total bull shit, you obviously never met the guy…

      As they say Jim, ” It all depends on whose ox is being gored”.
      As always,
      Laz

  5. Jim Updegraff November 6, 2015

    Oh well. if there is a lawsuit filed it all will come out in the wash. Mr. Woodhouse will then an ample opportunity to explain his actions.

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