Payette Commission Lukewarm To Citizen’s Concerns Over Fracking
Last Thursday, Payette County’s Planning & Zoning Commission held a hearing for the approval of a Conditional Use Permit for a fracking company, Bridge Energy. The permit would authorize placement of a natural gas compression/dehydration plant for fracking byproducts, to be plopped right in the middle of some prime agriculture land in Payette County, Idaho.
Despite the fact, that the proposed plant processes the fluid and gas byproducts from a fracking operation, the audience was immediately instructed that the issue before the P & Z Commission was only related to a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for a dehydration plant and had nothing to do with fracking. The audience was sternly warned that they would not be allowed to make any mention or bring into discussion, anything about fracking.
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- Dehydration/Compression Plant – View 1
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- Dehydration/Compression Plant – View 2
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- Existing view at proposed location – View 1
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- Existing view at proposed location – View 2
There were well over 40 oral testimonies given in opposition to the CUP and numerous written ones submitted, that were not read during the meeting. Approximately 10 vendors or their employees of Bridge Energy, spoke in favor of the conditional use permit.
The greatest voice of opposition was from the rural community members that will be surrounding the proposed plant. They are rightfully concerned about what the dehydration/compression plant will do to their property values, air quality, infrastructure, water quality and quality of life.
Several testimonies referred to the Applicable Standards for Issuance of a Conditional Use Permit in Payette County Zoning Code 8-9-3. Several conditions were cited, but the one that prevailed the loudest was #A3. It reads:
Will be designed, constructed, operated and maintained to be harmonious and appropriate in appearance with the existing or intended character of the general vicinity and that such use will not change the essential character of the same area.
After a grueling 5-hour hearing, where everyone who wanted to, was given the opportunity to be heard, the Planning & Zoning Committee closed the hearing. They then began their meeting to discuss the concerns & issues that they had and that were raised by others in attendance.
In the first half of their discussion, the Commission appeared to be very concerned over expressed environmental concerns, as well as the “harmonious and appropriate appearance” that the plant would have on the rural New Plymouth community. But, somewhere along the way, once weariness and fatigue set in, their focus appeared to narrow considerably.
Eventually, the Commission was only focusing on what would make the Dehydration/Compression plant fit more aesthetically (harmoniously), into the landscape on SW 2nd Ave, between Butte Rd & Custer Ave. They did realize that this plant would be sitting directly in the backyards of some farms, dairies and private residential homes.
So, with that, they determined to place the burden on the County Engineer to put together some ‘Conditions’ to go along with the approval of the CUP. Primarily, the Conditions were related to landscaping, lighting, and noise.
No where in the anticipated list of Conditions, were environmental issues addressed. Issues such as: air quality, water quality, emergency response preparedness or potential traffic and road maintenance.
So, as of now, the Planning & Zoning Commission has tabled the CUP application and will revisit it at their August meeting. At that time, the County Engineer’s Conditions will be presented and the Commission will vote to either approve or deny the Conditional Use Permit.
Sadly, by the end of an almost 6-hour marathon meeting, the relevant issues of environmental safety for the community and the planet did not get addressed. Those issues are ones that are currently devastating many people’s lives in several states, after the natural oil and gas industry has come in and conducted their intrusive fracking operations.
The desired outcome of those in attendance were hoping that the Conditional Use Permit would be turned down for the SW 2nd Avenue location. But, at this time, it still looms over the minds of those who value their quality of life in their neighborhood and the planet.
For more information about the process of fracking, the following video shows a tidbit from the Sundance Movie Award winning documentary, Gasland:
Great job of summing this situation up Liz. I must say that I feel all our testimony fell on deaf ears. Bridge will be able to respond at the August 18 Planning & Zoning meeting but they will accept no public testimony.
I was told by people that several of the P&Z board were sleeping during the meeting. I have a hard time with that as their decision is going to affect Payette County residents and our quality of life for generations. Why can’t they just say no! It would be interesting to know how many on the board have leased mineral rights to Bridge.
They are acting like Bridge will take their toys and go home. If they leave, it will only be due to the difficult finacial situation of Bridge Resoures. Check their financial portfolio. Stock prices are down and their debt is up. What happens if this goes in, they mess our county up and go bankrupt? There is already another company waiting in the wings. Why make it easy on any industry coming in here that has such a poor environmental record? Set tough rules and standards and hold them accountable. Make them set up an industrial park for these plants. Bridge will have to run many miles of pipeline to get raw natural gas to the gathering and processing refinery. Let them run more to the main Williams Pipeline.
We are working now on our next course of action. We will let everyone know what we come up with. So glad we have your support in this Liz. Thank you.
Summed up to a T Liz……..I would like to add that the Mayor of New Plymouth spoke in behalf of the city council and as a town voice against the proposed selected location for the plant. Due to the two close call incidences that has already occurred from broken natural gas lines within the area, this brought to light the need for training and more efficient emergency response plans to be in place before proceeding. One incidence resulted in a loss of life and the second could have been a catastrophic chemical fire. Our fire chief/commissioner and staff also spoke in behalf of not having the necessary equipment, training, closer Hazmat response teams and emergency response plan in place to deal with a fire or spill at or near the facility and our populated town. They felt they were left to “wing it” and were uncomfortable with the responsibility of that risk. I too was extremely disappointed to see the majority of time spent by the commissioners focused on how to hide and make the facility less obtrusive looking rather then discussing safeguards to public safety. Bridge Resources were not willing to consider possible other locations for the facility even though that was an option. There were repeated attempts to reach an agreement with Bridge Resources to step up to the plate and agree to pay for the maintenance of the proposed route of roads that will be heavily used on a daily basis with large tankers. They would only to pay maintenance on the area in front of the facility, which will leave the financial burden upon the tax payers. They could only promise to try to keep the odor nuisances and sound issues hopefully to an agreed upon level. Odor nuisances only address smells and have no quantitative measurements of what chemicals or amounts are being released. Since no requirement for a mandatory fence line monitor was discussed for a possible provisional item. Due to the close proximity of our town and schools we will be under the exposure of current and future chemicals in the proposed fracked wells that will be processed and ran thru this facility. The guidelines our county is setting in place is of extreme importance for the companies to follow coming in to drill and process along side of Bridge Energy.
Wow Liz! I am impressed with this site of yours, and your calm, rational reporting on such a frightening and impending disaster. It is situations such as this that cause me to question if our elected officials are not more of a danger to us than al queda and other group–who are at least honest and forthright about being terrorists.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you Bruce for the compliment. I totally agree about questioning who we should be more afraid of. We, the people, do have a voice, but it needs to be louder!
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