Our working group met for the second time on Tuesday, March 31st at the Southside Community Center. Present were: Don Noble (facilitator), Linda Draper, George McRae, Aaron Grogg, Daniel Webster, and Bill Bynum (secretary).
We began with introductions of new attendees and heard from George about his extensive background and experience in dealing with environmental issues.
Next, we reviewed the notes from our last meeting and approved them.
We then had a long discussion about the outreach efforts to Mike Ramsey, the Sierra Club, and the Butte Environmental Council (BEC). Don had a good discussion with Mike Ramsey and feels like the DA will be someone we can work with going forward. Bill and Celeste Garcia met with Jean Marquardt, who is on the board of the Sierra Club, and found her to be very helpful. Jean has even volunteered to analyze a portion of the emails that we received from the City through a public records request (PRR) regarding biomass. Celeste also made contact with Sean Wirth, who is on the board of the Motherlode Chapter of the Sierra Club in Sacramento. He is interested in helping us and has reached out to us to ask how far along the biomass process has progressed. And finally, I have met with Courtney Ellington, the new director of BEC twice. She has been very helpful and has committed to attending our meetings or sending a representative to them.
Our next order of business was an update on the emails from the City concerning biomass. We have a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 7th to review all of them. There are 9 people who have analyzed those emails, and they will meet to put them in chronological order and come up with an overview of what has transpired over the past two years.
The mission statement for our website was discussed next, and it was agreed that Linda and Don did a great job of composing it.
Aaron then gave an update of our website. It is ready to go, and Yvonne Harbison is going to help with designing the content.
The issue of whether we should become a non-profit was discussed next, and it was decided to table that question because it was felt that it is too soon to even consider it.
Having a fundraiser was our last topic, and it was decided that we should form a committee to start planning one. Our group feels like we will need to raise money to hire an environmental lawyer to look into the possibility of litigation to stop the City from bringing biomass burning to South Oroville. We are looking to have some kind of a fundraiser on May 16th at the Southside Community Center. So far the members of the fundraiser committee are: Celeste, Linda, Don, Aaron, and myself. If you are interested in being on the fundraising committee, please respond to this email or text me at 530-403-7401.
We adjourned our meeting and decided to continue to meet every two weeks. Our next meeting will be on Monday, April 13th at 4:30 pm at the Southside Community Center. If you would like to join our working group, please let me know by responding to this email or by texting me at 530-403-7401.
Respecfullly,
Bill Bynum
Secretary, Dioxin Education Committee