Residents, health advocates urge Kern County to reconsider proposed recycling facility near Fuller Acres and Lamont

At the March 25 Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting, residents and environmental and health advocates urged supervisors to halt or more closely review a proposed recycling facility near the Fuller Acres/Lamont area after staff removed the project from today’s calendar.

Advocates say the site sits in an area identified as a disadvantaged community under California law and that adding a recycling operation that would accept hazardous materials could worsen local air and water quality and conflict with AB 617 community protection goals.

The project described in staff materials proposes a general-plan amendment and zone change to allow a recycling facility on a portion of a 20-acre parcel. Emma De Lehi Rosa, Land Use and Transportation Policy Manager for Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, said the staff packet refers to a 10-acre recycling operation and raised two technical objections: that the project description lists truck trips and other emissions sources, and that the project “does not qualify for a CEQA streamlining” because it requires a general-plan amendment.

“This area already is a disadvantaged community for SB535 given the high pollution burden of the area and given the quality of the water, the quality of the air,” De Lehi Rosa said. “Approving such a project like a recycling facility will only increase these emissions.”

Brianna Castro, a climate equity and environmental justice associate with the Central California Asthma Collaborative, said the location is in a community selected under AB 617, the state community air protection program, and warned that adding another emissions source would undermine ongoing air-quality efforts. Castro noted the collaborative’s patient roster for Arvin and Lamont, saying the organization has delivered in-home services to many asthma patients in the area.

Local residents described direct concerns about drinking water and daily exposures. “My main concern is that right there in that community, everybody gets their water from wells,” resident Isaac Mesa said. “If there's anything that leaks from the recycling center, any oils, acids, any of that stuff, it'll get into our water.”

Other speakers said the applicant had indicated it would collect hazardous materials — including an apparent plan to accept or recycle acid batteries — and that the permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) could allow collection of hazardous waste. Luis Mendez Gomez, who identified himself as a local water board director, said his community already faces multiple contamination problems and opposed siting the recycling facility nearby.

The item (agenda item 5) was removed from today’s agenda; county counsel and staff said public comment on a removed item may be offered during the public presentations portion of the meeting. The board did not take a formal action on the project at this meeting.

The board heard multiple public presentations on this matter but conducted no public hearing or vote on the specific zone-change or permit requests today. When the county distributes corrected public notices and places the item on a future agenda, the board will be able to take formal testimony and action.

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What happens next: staff removed the item from today’s agenda for notice clarification. The county will need to re-notice the proposal before a formal hearing; at this meeting the supervisors did not vote on the project and took no regulatory action.