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Urgent! Save Organic Composting in Sonoma County!
Save our local organic composting facility!
We are halfway to our goal of 5000 signatures. Not only would our County lose a valuable resource, but hundreds of tons of yard debris will need to be trucked daily to multiple facilities out of the county.
Imagine the irony:
the locally-grown food we all love will require
IMPORTED compost to be grown!
Farmers, environmentalists and backyard gardeners are now coming together to keep this from happening. We can save our local composting facility. We need your help.
Sign the petition. Circulate it to everyone you know who loves organic produce! Thank you!
https://www.change.org/p/sonoma-county-board-of-supervisors-sonoma-county-waste-management-agency-save-our-local-organic-composting-facility
Re: Urgent! Save Organic Composting in Sonoma County!
this worthy petition is on change.org...
and, it comes in a format, that does actually not allow me to sign...
this happens with a number of their petitions..
I have written them about it,
and they haven't seemed concerned enough about it,
to address this situation..
it happens with some of their petitions,
but not all..
anyone else have a problem?
thanks
Mark
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by 350kitty:
Re: Urgent! Save Organic Composting in Sonoma County!
Hi Mark,
Sorry it took me a while to get back to you. I had no problem signing the petition using my Firefox web browser on a Mac. No one else has mentioned a problem with signing the petition. What browser are you using? If you are using Chrome, sometimes it doesn't get tested as much and doesn't always work when Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari do.
What happens when you try to use it? Do you get an error message? What is the error message?
Try downloading any of these free web browsers. In fact, it's always a good idea to have more than one web browser on your computer in case one stops working, or isn't compatible with some sites.
Re: Urgent! Save Organic Composting in Sonoma County!
Yes, I have also had a problem signing this important petition.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by markwjam:
this worthy petition is on change.org...
and, it comes in a format, that does actually not allow me to sign...
this happens with a number of their petitions..
I have written them about it,
and they haven't seemed concerned enough about it,
to address this situation..
it happens with some of their petitions,
but not all..
anyone else have a problem?
thanks
Mark
Re: Urgent! Save Organic Composting in Sonoma County!
I am not one of the organizers. Just helping publicize/circulate the petition. None-the-less, I will try to get it to someone who might be able to fix it.
But more information/step-by-step details are needed to get the problem fixed.
Can each of you tell me step by step what happened?
Here's the link to the petition again:
https://www.change.org/p/sonoma-county-board-of-supervisors-sonoma-county-waste-management-agency-save-our-local-organic-composting-facility
Did you get an error message? Can you write it down and send it?
Are you on a Mac or a PC?
Which web browser are you using? Internet Explorer? Firefox? Safari? Chrome? Opera?
Have you tried downloading an alternate browser? (all five of the above are free)
Have you tried signing the petition in an alternate browser? (one of the above five)
Thanks
Re: Urgent! Save Organic Composting in Sonoma County!
https://img194.imageshack.us/img194/...1206081330.png
Sonoma County compost operations must end by mid-October
A hard-fought battle over a Clean Water Act lawsuit — costing ratepayers more than $1.1 million — has spelled the end for Sonoma County’s largest compost producer, Sonoma Compost Co.
Under a settlement reached late Thursday night, Sonoma Compost must shut down operations atop the Central Landfill on Mecham Road west of Cotati by Oct. 15.
“We’re extremely disappointed and frustrated,” said Alan Seigle, who founded Sonoma Compost with his partner Will Bakx in 1993. “We feel horrible for our employees and the citizens of Sonoma County. This is going to have a huge impact all of our customers — particularly the agricultural community and small-scale farmers.”
The lawsuit, brought by Roger Larsen, a resident of the Happy Acres subdivision near the landfill, alleged Sonoma Compost was polluting the nearby Stemple Creek for years. State water regulators confirmed the composting operation has violated the Clean Water Act, and rainwater catchment ponds on the site overflowed at least twice during the last rainy season, contaminating the creek. Regulators threatened the county with fines of $10,000 a day.
The deal, finalized Friday , means the composting site will be gone by October — in time for the rainy season — alleviating any potential that rainwater will hit compost heaps and pollute the creek below. The agreement settles the lawsuit between Sonoma County, the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency and residents who filed suit under a group called Renewed Efforts of Neighbors Against Landfill Expansion, representing about 100 households in the neighborhood.
“I’m very happy the pollution will stop; that’s what the lawsuit was all about,” Larsen said, though he expressed reservations about a potential new composting site.
The settlement requires the Waste Management Agency to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees of $131,000, and an additional $100,000 to the Oakland-based Rose Foundation to restore Stemple Creek and the Bodega Bay watershed. The waste agency, which has racked up at least $500,000 in attorney’s fees since August, must also cover Sonoma County’s legal fees of $375,000.
The deal does not include Sonoma Compost, and the civil suit between Larsen’s group and Sonoma Compost is not resolved, said Michael Lozeau, an attorney who represents neighbors behind the lawsuit.
“They were there at the negotiating table last week, but they weren’t willing to negotiate with us,” Lozeau said.
The agreement allows Sonoma Compost to challenge the deal in attempt to remain open, but the company’s owners said they did not plan to do so.
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