Kettleman City residents may receive more opportunities to have their voices heard over the proposed Waste Management landfill expansion in the coming two months, as a county-hired independent consultant begins an aggressive campaign to seek public input.

On Thursday, the Local Assessment Committee, a body tasked to negotiate ways to make the hazardous waste project more acceptable to the community, is expected to discuss methods to garner public input. The meeting takes place at 6 p.m. inside the Kings County Board of Supervisors Chambers in Hanford.

Doug Noll of Boogaert & Noll, LLC in Fresno -- an independent consultant hired as a community liaison in the process -- says he will propose a variety of ways to maximize public participation, including a bi-weekly community meeting in Kettleman City.

"Our desire is to try to schedule meetings, workshops and roundtable discussions to get as much participation from Kettleman City as possible," Noll said.

The hiring of the firm by the county is a response to an ongoing complaint by opponents of the project that the committee meeting is not accessible enough for Kettleman City residents who live more than 30 miles away from Hanford.

The county is paying the firm $150,000 to facilitate the public participation process and help the committee come up with recommendations to the board of supervisors by mid-January.

However, opposition groups aren't happy about it. They continue calls to disband the committee, saying its formation -- with no Latino representation for the farmworker community most affected by the project -- is fundamentally flawed.

"It is clear that (the) firm was hired to ram a deal through that favors Chem Waste, legitimizes and retains the existing biased and racist and illegal LAC and makes true public participation impossible," Angel has previously said.

Under the circumstances, Angel says, the proposal for bi-weekly meetings in Kettleman City is still unacceptable.

Waste Management proposes to expand the existing landfill by 11 acres and construct a new 64-acre landfill, a move it says would extend the hazardous waste disposal capacity by 32 years. Officials of the company tout the benefits of the project, saying it's an environmentally-responsible way to ensure safe disposal of residential and industrial trash.

With the public comment period on the environmental document now closed, the LAC's monthly public meeting is the only outlet for direct public participation.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(Nov. 12, 2008)