Should Valley citizens be subsidizing a for-profit company?

Amid discord over whether the county should beproviding free assistance to a business, the Board of Supervisors todaydeferred action on a proposal to remove waste from a Thermal composting siteand thereby spare Coachella Valley residents from foul odors.

“Why in the world should the citizens of this county subsidize a for-profit company?” Supervisor Jeff Stone asked in challenging board ChairmanJohn Benoit’s plan. “Why should the taxpayers pick up the tab for thisbusiness’s problems?”

Benoit brought forward the proposed agreement with Thermal-basedCalifornia Bio-Mass Inc. to address an ongoing nuisance at the company’scomposting site.

“It’s a situation where there’s now a large residential area within onemile of this facility,” Benoit said. “The city of La Quinta has been a veryvocal proponent of trying to relocate it.”

According to the chairman, liquid waste, mostly grease, has been used atthe location for years for recycling purposes. The substances give off anoxious odor that carries on the wind, generating numerous complaints that haveresulted in citations for state environmental violations, Benoit said.

He said lawsuits have been threatened. The county’s Department of WasteManagement got involved to help find possible solutions. The most workable,according to Benoit, was for the site to undergo a clean-up and the mounds ofgrease-laden compost be hauled away to the county’s Oasis Landfill.

The dump is one of the most under-utilized countywide, containing atmost between three and 17 tons of waste on any given day, with a capacity of75,000 tons, according to Waste Management Director Hans Kernkamp. He said moretrash would be needed at the location to cover the estimated 1,600 tons ofgreasy material transferred from the Cal Bio-Mass facility.

Benoit’s proposal called for waste hauler Burrtec to take refuse thatwould otherwise be dumped at the overburdened Lamb’s Canyon Landfill in theBanning Pass and dump it at the Oasis site.

The proposed agreement with Cal Bio-Mass included the waiver of so-called “tipping fees” charged for dumping refuse at a county landfill. According to county documents, around $700,000 in fees would be waived.

Department of Waste Management officials’ contributions to the cleanupand coordination of the transfers would result in the county absorbing $250,000in costs, essentially making in-kind donations, officials said.

“This is a low-cost way to expeditiously deal with the problem,”Benoit said. “There has been lots of discussion about the pros and cons, andthis is a very innovative approach to resolve this.”

But Stone pointed out that the county would be extending itself in moneyand time to accommodate a firm that had not even been sued yet, without thebenefit of a lien on the Cal Bio-Mass property to protect the county’sinterests.

“This is a gift of public funds,” he said.

Supervisor Kevin Jeffries echoed those concerns, noting that a composting operator in the county’s First District could ask for the samebargain proposed for Cal Bio-Mass.

“It gets a little complicated,” Jeffries said.

Temecula resident Paul Jacobs criticized the arrangement, deriding it asa form of “corporate welfare.”

“This would involve the use of county equipment. Waste managementpersonnel would be working overtime, taking staff away from other duties,” Jacobs said. “You’d be throwing a million dollars at an unknown. The public isweary of bailouts.”

Supervisor Marion Ashley, initially behind the idea, made a motion withSupervisor John Tavaglione to postpone action on the Benoit plan until nextweek to give the Office of County Counsel time to research how the county’sfinancial interests would be best served.