AQMD panel begins deliberations on changes to Rainbow trash facility in H.B.

A hearing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District began deliberating Wednesday morning on whether proposed changes to Rainbow Environmental Services’ Huntington Beach trash operations are justified.

During its fourth meeting since Nov. 7 spent listening to and questioning dozens of witnesses and public speakers and reading stacks of evidence, the five-member board discussed the matter for about 45 minutes before continuing the hearing again. The panel is expected to make its decision Thursday after it reconvenes at 9 a.m. at AQMD headquarters in Diamond Bar.

The proposed changes are a collaborative effort between AQMD staff and Rainbow to address odors and dust emanating from the waste management and recycling facility on Nichols Lane near Warner Avenue in the Oak View neighborhood of Huntington Beach.

Neighborhood residents and employees of Oak View Elementary School, across the street from Rainbow, have long complained about the facility and have asked for something to be done.

“This is an unfortunate situation brought about by a series of decisions over a long period of time that in hindsight, perhaps, could have been better made,” panel chairman Edward Camarena said. “But here we are today. We need to deal with it.”

The main proposal is to build enclosures around the areas where Rainbow collects and sorts solid waste, green waste and construction and demolition debris. AQMD staff and Rainbow agreed to a deadline of Dec. 1, 2017, to complete the enclosures.

However, panel member Julie Prussack asked whether the deadline should be moved up based on testimony by Ken Thomson, president of Facility Builders & Erectors, a development company hired by Rainbow to build the enclosures.

Thomson said during a Nov. 12 hearing that construction could be done six to eight months before the deadline if permits and building go smoothly.

Prussack initially wanted to move the deadline earlier out of concern about a proposed clause that would allow Rainbow to ask for an extension if it does not meet the deadline.

She and her colleagues opted to keep the deadline but suggested there should be a status update in mid-April 2016.