History Repeats Regardless of Geography: The BREI Plan Looks Like Times Beach and Love Canal All Over Again

In the world of environmental science, there are names that serve as permanent warnings: Times Beach. Love Canal. San Jacinto.

These aren’t just places on a map; they are “sacrifice zones” where industry promised safety, government provided “oversight,” and residents paid with their health. Today, in South Oroville, we are seeing the exact same pattern emerge with the BREI Biomass/Energy Campus proposal.

Here is why history tells us to stop this project before the first shovel hits the dirt.

The “Disturbance” Trap in Times Beach

In the 1970s, the town of Times Beach, Missouri, thought they were solving a simple problem: dusty roads. They hired a contractor to spray oil, not knowing it was laced with dioxin.

The Result: The dioxin didn’t stay on the roads. It bound to the dust, was kicked up by tires, and settled in the lungs and homes of 2,000 people. The entire town had to be demolished and evacuated.

The Oroville Connection: BREI and the City claim that because they are “building new,” the old toxins don’t matter. But the POPI site is infested with dioxin-laden fly ash. The moment construction starts—grading the land, digging foundations, and hauling soil—that “legacy dust” becomes airborne. We aren’t just worried about a smokestack; we are worried about the very air our children breathe during construction.

Building on a Crime Scene from Love Canal)

In Niagara Falls, NY, a school and a neighborhood were built on top of a buried chemical trench. For years, officials said it was “contained.”

The Result: Rainfall and minor ground shifts caused the “toxic soup” to leach into basements. High rates of miscarriages and birth defects followed. It became the first ever emergency declared for a man-made disaster.

The Oroville Connection: The POPI site at 3050 S. 5th Avenue is a “crime scene” of illegal dumping and toxic fires (1963 and 1987). To build a massive energy campus on top of it—regardless of how “clean” the machines are—is a violation of the most basic rule of public health: Do not disturb a toxic grave.

The “New Technology” Myth busted by Midland, Michigan)

For decades, Dow Chemical told the people of Midland that their “modern incinerators” were the height of safety.

The Result: Despite the “clean” machines, the dioxin built up in the soil and riverbeds over forty years. Residents found that the chemical didn’t just disappear; it bioaccumulated in their yards, their gardens, and their bodies.

The Oroville Connection: The OCDC and BREI are using the word “Gasification” as a magic wand to make us forget the site’s history. But “New Tech” doesn’t fix a Cancer Cluster. Butte County is already #1 in California for pancreatic cancer. We are not a laboratory for unproven technology, and we refuse to be the next case study in industrial failure.

The Choice Before Us

The families in Times Beach and Love Canal didn’t know the danger until it was too late. We have the advantage of history. We know that:

  • Dioxin is a “forever chemical.”
  • “Capping” a site is a temporary fix that always fails.
  • The poorest neighborhoods are always the first to be targeted for “experimental” energy.

South Oroville is not a sacrifice zone. We are the Watchtower. And we are saying No.

LocationSource of DioxinOutcomeLessons for Oroville
Times Beach, MORoad SprayingRelocation of 2,000 peopleDust & Soil Disturbance = Exposure
Love Canal, NYBuried Chemical WasteNational Emergency / RelocationDon’t build on top of toxic waste
Midland, MIIncinerationDecades of soil/dust contamination“Clean” machines don’t fix dirty soil
South OrovillePOPI Ash & Fires[PENDING]We must stop the construction now!

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