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FRA! Submits Response to Hat Creek Asphalt Plant

Feather River Action! today submitted the below comments (downloadable in pdf format) to Plumas County Zoning Administrator Tracey Ferguson regarding Hat Creek/ Caltrans’ plans to build an asphalt plant on the river where the photo above was taken. Please feel free to share this public document. We will let you know on this website when a hearing is scheduled on this matter. No asphalt plant on the Feather River! Ever!

Feather River Action! Asphalt Plant Comments June 2023

GreenFire Law/ Roux Associates Comment Letter (Hired by FRA! with Your Support!)

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Hat Creek Talking Points E-Mails Raise New Questions About Loyalties of Portola City Manager

Update June 17th, 2023: We e-mailed the Portola Mayor Bill Powers (twice) for answers to these questions below  but so far there has been no response….

These printed e-mails were handed inadvertently to an unnamed person by Perry Thompson of Hat Creek Construction over the last couple of weeks. That recipient scanned them, provided them to us, and we are providing them to the public.

These e-mails raise some immediate questions:
1) Most importantly, why is Portola City Manager Jon Kennedy relaying the talking points Hat Creek is providing to him and actively supporting the asphalt plant, when the Portola City Council (who hired him and pay his $100K+ salary), has taken no public position on the project? Is this part of his city manager role, or something else?
2) Do the city council know about their city manager’s activities in promoting the asphalt plant? The Brown Act requires public noticing of decisions and policies, and explicitly prohibits backroom deals.
3) Is Mr. Kennedy’s compensation coming from other sources besides his city manager salary? What motivation is there for Mr. Kennedy to promote the plant?
4) The talking points contain many inaccuracies, as the permit for the plant would basically be unlimited in terms of operating hours and longevity, there has been no air district sign off, and the asphalt component is very similar to what was proposed in NE Portola two years ago that the council vehemently opposed. What has changed?
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Contact Caltrans and State Officials: Oppose Asphalt Plant on Feather River!

Opposition continues to mount against the proposed Caltrans Asphalt Plant in Delleker/ Portola, which would be built on the banks of the Middle Fork of the Wild and Scenic Feather River, in the floodplain of the river, in FEMA’s 100 year flood zone. It would be surprising if asphalt and toxic chemicals did not get washed down the river to the Graeagle area and beyond if this plant is built.

Why the alarm about this? Look at the above pic of the proposed asphalt plant site. Everything south of the tracks is part of this 20 acre site. Now look at the screenshot from a drone video taken just 6 years ago (click here to watch the whole video). At least half of the site is flooded, locations where Hat Creek proposes to place their stockpiles and wastewater ponds. Asphalt plants are some of the most toxic and disruptive industrial activities. To try and put something so impactful in such a sensitive vulnerable location on a river that provides 27 million Californians with drinking water shows a serious disconnection with reality.

If this parcel of land next to the river would be zoned today, would it be zoned heavy industrial? This land is part of the flood zone of the river and needs to be a buffer zone between industrial uses and the river, not a site for noisy, toxic, and hazardous materials.

-FRA!

Take action TODAY:

  1. Comments are due Saturday June 10th!   You have only this week, though Sat. June 10th, to read the environmental report and submit comments and opposition to the Zoning Administrator Tracey Ferguson via TimEvans@countyofplumas.com with the subject line “Hat Creek Construction Site Development Permit CEQA MND 686 Comment.” You can cc. the Plumas County Board of Supervisors (where this may end up) at public@countyofplumas.com
  2.  Call Caltrans District 2 and Tell them NOT to pollute the Feather River with their asphalt production needs and to please rule out the Delleker location for their Highway 70 repaving needs! (530) 225-3426
  3.  Call State Senator Brian Dahle and ask that he intervene to oppose this  asphalt plant (916) 651-4001
  4. Call State Assemblymember Megan Dahle and ask that she intervene to oppose the plant. 916-319-2001