Plumas County supervisors on June 30 approved a fifth amendment to an agreement with the California Association of Environmental Health Administrators to keep a consultant on the county’s Greenville fire legacy-contamination work through Dec. 31, 2025.

The extension will keep Jerry Seipp available to help implement the county’s soil-management plan, county environmental health staff said, including guidance for rebuilding and inspection steps intended to ensure contaminated soils remain capped during reconstruction.

Dennis Eck, with the Plumas County Department of Environmental Health, told the board the work on the Greenville legacy contamination “has been taking a little bit longer than we wanted to, but it's gonna be implemented soon.” He said the consultant was the person originally on site after the fires and the department wants him available for a “mock kind of go through the process” when rebuilding permits are requested so the process runs smoothly.

Eck described the recovery steps used on affected properties: “Cleanup's done, but there are some properties that still have lead on the property ... it's under basically an 18 inches cap. So we need to implement this so that people, when they're rebuilding, all that contamination isn't being disturbed.” He said the county will issue environmental hazard permits and oversee adherence to the soils-management plan during reconstruction.

A member of the public, identifying himself as a lab technician consultant, asked which contaminants were found. Eck said lead was the primary contaminant and that arsenic and small amounts of mercury had been detected at levels below residential screening thresholds. Eck also said that initial cleanup removed burned plastics and other debris during site preparation.

Board discussion clarified that the item will later be considered as an ordinance after legal review, and that the extension is a short-term step to retain the consultant while the county finalizes the longer-term regulatory approach. Sarah (on Zoom) told the board “there will be plenty of opportunity to have a public hearing on this ordinance” when it reaches legal review.

A motion to approve the amendment was made and seconded; the board voted and the motion carried.

The extension keeps the consultant available for the final permitting and implementation steps but does not itself change the soils-management plan or create new permitting rules; staff said the ordinance and legal review will set public hearing opportunities and further details.