HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 3.B Late Docs 02/02/2009From: Ariel Rostoni [arostoni@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 2:54 PM
To: Efren Carrillo; Mike Kerns; Paul Kelley; Shirlee Zane; Valerie Brown
Cc: - City Clerk; citymgr; David Glass; Mike Healy; Pamela Torliatt; Tiffany Renee
Subject: Public Comment on FOR Dutra Co Petaluma Asphalt Plant at Haystack Landing
Dear County Supervisors,
My name is Ariel Rostoni. I am a Petaluma resident and a mother who is greatly concerned with your current position and
upcoming vote on the Dutra Asphalt plant.
We just sold a house in Marin County and we are looking forward to buying a new home and settling here in Petaluma. We
chose Petaluma as the city in which to raise our children because of it's central location, the family values shared and
expressed by Petalumans, and we especially love the feeling of open space, clean air and less congestion. Petaluma is a
special little town that has grown on us and we have come to really love. We've lived here for over 6 years now, and don't
want to move away. However, that is exactly what we will do if this asphalt plant operates at the current proposed location
and by a company that has a track record for disregard to environmental laws. Dutra is a company that can be trusted. I
understand there are many more, possibly even hundreds more families that will also move away if this project is
approved. Petaluma will become a wasteland, a ghost town. PLEASE don't let our lovely river town turn into the next
Richmond! Do the right thing and vote against the Dutra plant on Tuesday!
We do not want this in Petaluma and we do not want it at the current proposed site. There has got to be a way for this
plant to operate in our county at a different location, but most importantly that Dutra is held accountable for the
environmental footprint it leaves during operation. There are other asphalt plants in operation, at least one already in our
county that does this. So we know it can be done, and we as residents expect Dutra to be environmentally responsible too.
You must vote no on Tuesday. Remember, it will be your names that go down in history as voting this project in -the
project that will be the demise or our town in so many ways.
We are watching, we are voters, we are residents.
I encourage to you to make the right decision and vote NO to Dutra next Tuesday.
Ariel Rostoni
From: Miel & Thad Louviere [mielandthad@dslextreme.com]
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 12:15 AM
To: - City Clerk; Tiffany Renee; David Glass; Teresa Barrett; Mike Healy; Pamela Torliatt; David
Rabbitt; Mike Harris
Subject: Dutra Asphalt Plant
Howdy Folks,
FYI—here's a copy of the email I sent to each member of the Board of Supervisors:
Howdy (Supervisor),
A resounding NO! to the Dutra Asphalt plant proposed for Petaluma!
• Dutra has a long and sordid history of violating agreements with communities hosting their production
facilities;
• Dutra has a long and sordid history of violating the law;
• This plant will further pollute an already fouled waterway;
• This plant and barges planned to be moored in the river near it will make the river virtually unnavigable;
• The toxic filth spewed into the air and water will destroy the bird habitat in Schollenberger Park;
• Any assurances to the contrary by Dutra and other interested parties are simply propaganda and public
relations, and completely fictional;
• A "Yes" vote in the face of overwhelming public opposition screams "CORRUPTION!"
I highly recommend keeping these, and the myriad other points being called to your attention by members of an
outraged citizenry, in mind when casting your vote. If someone were going to put a toxic incinerator in your
neighborhood, how would you feel if the board responsible for approving it ignored the raised voice of the
people for the deep pockets of an industrial interest?
Here's your opportunity to fulfill your obligations in a democracy—DO WI -IAT THE CITIZENS DEMAND.
Most sincerely,
Thad Louviere
Petaluma, CA
From: David Keller [dkellerl @sonic.net]
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 5:08 PM
To: Paul Gullixson; Chris Samson; editor@bohemian.com; Marin IJ Editor; Jim Sweeney
Cc: Jared Huffman; Mark Leno; CityCouncil; CDD
Subject: A Dark Cloud over Petaluma: Dutra Asphalt Plant proposal in the Petaluma Marsh
Attachments: Dutra FEIR - City of Petaluma Comments 2-2-09.pdf
Importance: High
A Dark Cloud is hanging over Petaluma: the Dutra Asphalt Plant proposal:
Wrong Project, Wrong Place.
David Keller
former City Council member
founder, Petaluma River Council
January 31, 2009
This proposed project, to be located on the Petaluma River immediately adjacent to Shollenberger Park and at
Sonoma County and Petaluma's gateway on Hwy 101, is a very noxious and dangerous from the Dutra Group.
They are seeking final approvals on Feb. 3rd from Sonoma County Supervisors for a large asphalt batch plant
and recycling facility (650,OOOtons/yr total production) along the banks of the Petaluma River, directly opposite
the well -loved and highly used Shollenberger Park (with marsh and wetlands restoration, public trails, national
Audubon Society ranking as one of the top 4 new birding sites in the country a couple of years ago, a true
outdoor classroom and research area), and adjacent to a 6 year old thriving egret/heron rookery in eucalyptus
trees on the Dutra site itself. The Park itself is used by over 150,000 visitors annually, and would suffer
pernianent damages from this location and operations as proposed. This is the most visited site within the great
Petaluma Marsh, some 6,000 acres of publicly (California Fish and Game) and privately owned wetlands
adjacent to the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge, acclaimed as the largest remaining, relatively intact,
intertidal (salicornia) marsh left on the Pacific Coast of the lower 48 States.
There are a huge number of immitigable significant impacts of the project. On Jan. 26th, at the Petaluma City
Council meeting, over 30 people spoke against it, out of a crowd of 80 or so people. No one spoke in favor. The
council unanimously agreed to send a strong letter to the Supes: fix all the problems, and totally enclose all the
operations, and prevent hazards to navigation - or deny approvals.
Opposition to this, and quite a large number of reasoned, fair questions about the project come from the
Petaluma Wetlands Alliance, Madrone Audubon, SCCA, Petaluma River Council, the local Trout Unlimited,
Friends of Shollenberger Park & Clean Air (a new, ad hoc group doing tremendous outreach), Petaluma Health
Care District, businesses, tourism interests, real estate development, school groups, professional and lay people.
Even members of the San Pedro Rd. Coalition in San Rafael came to speak of their extremely frustrating legal
and environmental battles and their neighborhood's 20 year terrible experiences with the Dutra Group's San
Rafael Rock Quarry. Copies of the Marin County Grand Jury's report on Dutra were delivered as well. (See City
letter attached, and other links at: httn://savesbpark.bloesnot.com/ 1
The Sonoma County PRMD staff and Supervisor Mike Kerns have not held any public meetings in Petaluma
during the 4 year development of the project, and Mike Kerns declined an invitation to even come to the last
Council meeting. It's been reported that many of the Supervisors are viewing this as a case of emotional,
complaining, uninformed Petalumans, who don't understand that this is really just an old industrial dredge spoils
site with a path and a bunch of birds, and is in a traditionally (ugly, dirty) old river area, and who are just being
NIMBY's for an asphalt plant which we all need, and which helps take truck traffic off the road and is a new
employment site [at most 10 people], and who just don't understand the'real facts' about how Dutra will be a
good and responsive neighbor, and will not really deliver any dirty, smelly air because the plant is 'totally
enclosed.' In a lengthy meeting in October arranged by City Councilmember Mike Harris, I asked Aimi Dutra
to please hold community meetings before the next Supervisors' Board meeting to discuss concerns being raised
and to seek resolutions, but she firmly refused to do that, insisting that Dutra didn't want to risk not getting a
favorable vote from a newly constituted Board of Supervisors after the election.
Many in Petaluma are deeply offended and offended by this attitude towards their real and genuine questions,
concerns and fears, and are very frustrated by this behavior. Very few people even knew about this project until
the last few weeks, when public information and outreach has ramped up virally - no thanks to Dutra or the
County. The County even failed to post public notices for any of their meetings at Shollenberger Park.
Attorney Mike Lozeau was hired by Petaltumans in October to provide comments on 12/8 to the Supervisors, on
air quality errors and omissions of the FEIR. The project returns to the Supervisors next Tuesday, 2/3. We
found that most of the FEIR's air quality impacts were grossly understated. For instance, no accounting for
PM2.5 particulates and cumulative NOx emissions. Truck traffic was understated by a factor of 4. Barge traffic,
noise, lights, runoff, diesel and blue smoke are all understated, and navigational hazards are dismissed, along
with impacts to the heron and egret colony and River quality, as we found in professional review of the FEIR's
own data.
We are left with significant toxic and noxious releases of carcinogenic blue smoke (PAH) and diesel fumes. I
took a tour, at the invitation and expense of and with Aimi Dutra and Brian Peer, to a 'model' plant in Irvine,
owned by All American Asphalt, in December. Dutra presents this as their model 'negative air pressure enclosed
loading tunnel' for the trucks, ('state of the art') which is purported to cure all leakage of blue smoke and diesel
fumes during loading. However, it leaked blue smoke and diesel fumes and particulates like a sieve, sickening
one of the party who waited 1/2 hour in the parking lot for us to arrive from the airport, parked some 225' or so
from the exit of the tunnel. As Aimi and the rest of our group opened the car door when we arrived and parked
about 200' from the tunnel exit, we were hit with heavy asphalt smells/smoke, causing Aimi Dutra to exclaim,
"What's that? that's not supposed to happen! there must be something going on here."
However, unlike Dutra's p.r. campaign stories, this was not a malfunction of the model Irvine plant: this is in
fact the way the plant and loading operations work in real life, not in theory. None of the trucks with freshly
loaded hot asphalt emitting clouds of blue smoke were observed during this visit being tarped (even though this
is plant regulated by the South Coast AQMD), leaving the plant site and road with a trail of blue smoke down
the canyon to Irvine. Light breezes and trucks moving through the tunnel pushed severely polluted toxic air out
as well. The driver of the thick was left inside the tunnel for 3-7 minutes in a cloud of blue smoke and diesel
exhaust, with no respirator. Rollup doors on the tunnel were not operating at all, even though they wouldn't
have prevented the other discharges from the tunnel anyway. This is not at all like the antiseptic picture of
asphalt operations that Dutra's p.r. machine would like us to believe.
Dutra has assured us the plant would be quiet and unobtrusive to Shollenberger Park users and river traffic,
even though all of its operations are located outdoors. The reality is distressingly different: as experienced at the
'model' plant in Irvine, there are significant problems remaining with significant smells (including from
rubberized asphalt), with extreme and ongoing background noises, uncontained dusts and silicates from their
crushing and dumping operation (again, outdoors, with exposed storage and movement of aggregates),
nighttime floodlights, a requested 24/7 operation (during high demand periods, e.g. CalTrans and other large
paving contracts), likely significant impacts to fish and water quality from drafting of Petaluma River water for
dust suppression and storm water runoff, high trick activity (up to 750 trucks per day, ie, up to 1500 trips/day)
and other aspects of poor asphalt manufacturing and recycling activities. The loudest noises on site were
intermittant and unpredictable: the piercing sounds of concrete and asphalt rubble scraping against the steel
2
sides of the truck trailers, as it was sliding out of the dump trucks, out in the open, as it would be for Dutra's
site. Those screeches would impact people and wildlife over a mile away. The crushing of recycled materials
was not in operation during our 2 hour visit to All American Asphalt in Irvine, and we could not evaluate the
promises from Dutra that it too would not be a problem.
Most disturbing, this 40-50 year lifespan project occurs 2-300' from the trails of Shollenberger Park, and on the
shore of the River - with prevailing winds blowing toxics and noxious smells directly across to envelop walkers,
runners, bird watchers, families, school visits, research, recuperating patients and staff from Kaiser, eco -tourists,
and the hundreds of workers in nearby office parks, (including Point Reyes Bird Observatory's new national hq
and other major office park tenants fronting on the park and trails), many of which located there to be adjacent
to the trails, vistas and tranquility of Shollenberger and the River. The City, County Open Space District, State
and others have spent well over $1M in public finds to work on trails and restoration of tidal marsh habitat in
this diked and filled baylands and marsh, and dredge spoils site (still partially used every 4-5 years). The
wetlands and marsh restoration is proving extremely successful, attracting
over 150 species of birds noted so far. It is adjacent to the Alman Marsh (purchased with Open Space funds)
and the soon to be opened new municipal WWTP, with extensive new polishing wetlands and ponds and nature
trails. This is truly a regional and national destination site for birding and marsh studies. It is profoundly not "an
industrial wasteland surrounded by a trail", as some have described it.
On the north end of the Dutra property itself is a grove of eucalyptus which has become a successful rookery for
egrets and herons over the past 6 years. The operations and buildings would be placed within 70' of the grove
(closest building would be the very peaceful new firehouse for the San Antonio Vol. Fire Dept), and John
Kelley of Audubon Canyon Ranch's Cypress Grove Field Station (a national expert on egrets/herons) has
testified that Dutra's activities will very likely cause abandonment of this education and birdwatching
destination rookery, to the great loss of school classes and researchers.
Additionally, Dutra is also showing a mooring location for their 200' barges and 60' tugs along their bank in a
location and position that is undoubtedly going to interfere with safe passage of Jerico Dredging's tugs and
barges, as well as rowers and competitors in regattas, past this narrow and curved reach of the river. Jerico hauls
their own oyster shell products, and aggregates for themselves and also over 1M tons/year fr Shamrock's B.C.-
originated rock (Polaris Co.), which Shamrock is using to displace Russian River aggregate. Dutra's mooring
goes far into the channel, and probably would not fit within the length of their river frontage as well. Jerico
wants the barge/hug mooring to be cut further inland into the parcel, but there may not be enough space on
Dutra's property to do that. SoCo PRMD has only just now talked with Jerico's owners, who are the most
experienced tug pilots on the river. But PRMD is waiting for the Corps or Coast Guard to say something, which
of course they won't do until there's a permit application, which won't happen until after the Supervisors
approve Dutra's FIR and permits, zoning and land use changes, and General Plan amendment.
This proposed project is pushing the envelope of what California Asphalt plants are doing. It's not anywhere
enough, and cannot be allowed to be built (especially by a company like Dutra) in this very sensitive and
popular location.
Any asphalt batch plant and recycling project located at the gateway to Petaluma and Sonoma County, adjacent
to Hwy 101 and the Petaluma River and Marsh must be totally enclosed, navigational hazards must be
eliminated, or it should be denied. This is 2009, not 1960, or even 1990. We use and need asphalt, but we need
and deserve to have manufacturing that is sensitive to these critical problems, including reducing GHG
emissions, and to be fully aware that we only have one Shollenberger Park and Petaluma River and Petaluma
Marsh. The plant design and controls proposed by Dutra Group and the County are nowhere close to what our
City and County deserve for our next generations, our economy, our environment and our health.
If Dutra doesn't want to do this with their future neighbors for the next 50 years, if they don't want to build the
next generation of asphalt manufacturing, they need to find some other community to impact.
The following are links for documents and additional information:
Draft EIR
httn://www. sonoma-county. ore/Dnnd/docs/e it/dutradeir/index. htm
- Final EIR
httD://wwNv.sonoma-countv.orQ/Dnnd/docs/eir/dutrafeir/index.htm
- Comments on FEIR from Petahuna River Council, Lozeau/Drury, 12-8-08
(9.4Mb):
htti):Howlfoundation.net/web-oix/odf--files/Dutra-Final-FEI R-Commentx.l)df
- Website with full background info & petition:
htti)://savesbDark.bloizsDot.com/
- Marin Grand Jury Report on Dutra and County behavior: "Who's minding
the San Rafael Rock Quarry" 6/2001
httD://www.co.marin.ca. us/dents/GJ/main/everi r/2000 ei/ssro/srrareot.Ddf
- San Pedro Road Coalition website with disturbing history of battles
with Dutra's San Rafael operations:
httT):Hhvww.sT)rcoalition.ora/tot)ics/civarrv/historv.html
- Agenda, Bd of Supes, 2/3/09
httD://www.sonoma-couiitv.ore/boELrd/a2enda.litm
From: b.hammerman@comcast.net
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 8:12 PM
To: David Keller
Cc: Jared Huffman; Mark Leno; CityCouncil; CDD; Paul Gullixson; Chris Samson;
editor@bohemian.com; Marin IJ Editor; Jim Sweeney
Subject: Re: A Dark Cloud over Petaluma: Dutra Asphalt Plant proposal in the Petaluma Marsh
Dear David:
Many thanks for sharing your comments as well as a copy of the City Council's letter concerning the
Dutra asphalt plant in the Petaluma Marsh. It is a perfect example of the types of comments that meet
the criteria identified in my latest Petaluma360 blog (1-26-09) titled, "Can a new yardstick help?"
httD://bill-hammerman.Detaluma360.com
The thoughts and factual information presented
components of the "Whammer Yardstick" .... co
greatest number of people.
Bill Hammerman, Blogger
Argus -Courier Petaluma360
in these two documents match the three basic
nmon sense, logic, and the greatest good for the
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Keller" <dkeller1@sonic.net>
To: "Paul Gullixson" <pgullixson@pressdemocrat.com>, "Chris Samson"
<csamson@arguscourier.com>, editor@bohemian.com, "Marin IJ Editor" <Opinion@marinij.com>,
"Jim Sweeney" <jsweeney@pressdemocrat.com>
Cc: "Jared Huffman" <ja red huffman@sbcglobal. net>, "Mark Leno" <Mark.Leno@sen.ca.gov>, "City
Council"<citycouncil@ci.petaluma.ca.us>, "Members Planning Commission"
<cdd@ci.petaluma.ca.us>
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 5:07:33 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: A Dark Cloud over Petaluma: Dutra Asphalt Plant proposal in the Petaluma Marsh
*A Dark Cloud is hanging over Petaluma: the Dutra Asphalt Plant proposal:
*Wrong Project, Wrong Place.*
*David Keller
former City Council member
founder, Petaluma River Council
January 31, 2009
This proposed project, to be located on the Petaluma River immediately
adjacent to Shollenberger Park and at Sonoma County and Petaluma's
gateway on Hwy 101, is a very noxious and dangerous from the Dutra
Group. They are seeking final approvals on Feb. 3rd from Sonoma County
Supervisors for a large asphalt batch plant and recycling facility