We had our fourth Dioxin Education Committee meeting on Monday, December 1st at the Southside Community Center at 5 pm. Twelve people were present.
We began with a discussion about the excellent ad that came out in the Enterprise Record bringing attention to the proposed biomass pl;ant. Another ad will run on December 6th.
We then discussed the upcoming “Town Hall” that the City of Oroville was supposed to put on. Patrick Piatt, the Community Development Director, has been communicating with our Chair, Linda Draper. It turns out that the organization that is actually putting on the “Town Hall” is the Oroville Community Development Coalition (OCDC). This is, according to a google search, “a group of local leaders, business owners, and community members working to improve the city of Oroville through projects, events, and initiatives.” Why the city has outsourced the holding of a “Town Hall” to this group is not clear. And, to further make us wonder what is happening, it turns out that Patrick has told Linda that we cannot have a representative on the panel for the “Town Hall” because we don’t have a member that is “vetted”. That is, someone who meets their criteria for a panel member. This whole process has become confusing. The lack of transparency is glaring. We still plan on showing up and asking questions, but just who is doing the presenting is dubious.
We are finding that everywhere we look there is a lack of transparency. We know that there are non-disclosure agreements involved with the primary actors, but it is even difficult to determine who is paying for what. Is the City of Oroville paying? We know that the City sent two of their staff to the United Kingdom to familiarize themselves with the parent company and its processes. Is BREI or Butte Renewable Energy Inc. footing the bill? We think they are paying for legal services for the city. Is OroCarbo, a new company that plans to bring another biomass plant to Oroville next year and is owned by a local businessman, involved in funding this endeavor?
We have a lot of questions, and we plan on asking them at the “Town Hall” meeting on Monday, December 8th. The location will be 455 Oro Dam Blvd. E, Oroville, and the event is scheduled to go from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. If you would like to ask one of our many questions, let Bonita Malone bonitadeguam@gmail.com or Linda Draper lindyfern50@gmail.com know and they will include you.
Regardless of the structure of the meeting, we need as many people as possible to attend. We need to show the community that we have serious concerns about the biomass plant and how it is being foisted on our community.
We also discussed and decided that as many of us as possible should attend the next Butte County Air Quality Management meeting. It will take place at 10 am on December 11, and It will be held at the Butte County Association of Governments Board Room, 326 Huss Drive, Suite 100, in Chico.
Our next meeting will be on Monday, January 12th at 5 pm at the Southside Community Center.
Bill