H.B. group plans protest to keep pressure on to enclose waste facility

Members of the Oak View community of Huntington Beach plan a protest Thursday against Rainbow Environmental Services to try to pressure the business to have its local waste management operation fully enclosed.

Oak View Comunidad, a Facebook group, plans to lead demonstrators to Rainbow’s facility at 17121 Nichols Lane at 5:30 p.m. The rally is being tied in with the neighborhood’s Dia de los Muertos festivities, said Oscar Rodriguez, 21, a co-founder of the group who grew up in Oak View.

Oak View is a low-income, mostly Latino neighborhood that surrounds the Rainbow trash and recycling facility. Residents have complained for years about odors, dust and noise emanating from the site and have asked the business to enclose its operations to contain the nuisances.

“The community’s goal is for Rainbow to have its operations 100% enclosed,” Rodriguez said.

Group members also will be reminding residents to attend a South Coast Air Quality Management District meeting at 9 a.m. Nov. 7 at the Oak View Community Center, where a hearing board will consider whether to approve several proposed changes to Rainbow’s operations, including the enclosure.

“This is a stepping stone in the right direction, but the community needs to come to the hearing to pressure the AQMD to do more to ensure 100% enclosure,” Rodriguez said.

Rainbow spokeswoman Sue Gordon wrote in an email Monday that the company is committed to enclosing the facility by Dec. 1, 2017. She added that the planning is in the architectural and design phase.

“Like any good neighbor, we have proactively implemented a number of initiatives to control any remnant odor and further reduce any operational impacts within the surrounding area, pending enclosure,” Gordon wrote. “We hope for a successful outcome of the Nov. 7 hearing, and we look forward to the day when we can get back to doing what we do best, which is quietly helping to keep Huntington Beach clean and beautiful.”