Judge Reopens CA Compost Facility That Claimed Two Lives

Date: November 29, 2011

Source: News Room

A judge has ruled that a California composting facility can reopen, two weeks after it was shut down following the deaths of two of its workers. Cal-OSHA, the state labor commissioner and the U.S. Department of Labor continue to investigate the deaths of two brothers who died last month after apparently inhaling toxic fumes. The Kern County Board of Supervisors revoked the facility's operating permit at a Nov. 15 public hearing and imposed a $2.3 million fine for operating an unpermitted plastics recycling operation.

This week Kern County Superior Court Judge J. Eric Bradshaw issued a stay allowing the facility, operated by Community Recycling & Resource Recovery Inc. (Crown Disposal), to reopen. He also deferred a requirement by the county that the site be cleaned up by Dec. 15, something the company considered unrealistic and in violation of state environmental health requirements.

The county's position was further complicated by more that 130 workers who have been protesting the loss of their jobs owing to the facility's closure and a warning from the Lamont Public Utility District that without Community Recycling accepting its waste, sewer water would soon spill onto nearby highways.

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