The meeting was the first by the city since The Press Democrat revealed that startup Resynergi has fallen under investigation by local and state authorities over questions about whether it was authorized to do business at three local sites.
Opponents of a controversial plastics recycling operation planned for Rohnert Park blasted the project during a City Council meeting Tuesday evening and called for city officials to “pull the permit” and hold public hearings to discuss safety concerns.
About a dozen Rohnert Park residents criticized the project for nearly an hour during the public comment period, accusing the city of fast-tracking what they said is essentially a chemical manufacturing business pawned off as green recycling.
Resynergi, the company seeking to open the operation, has come under investigation by local and state government regulators amid questions over whether it was authorized to conduct business at three local sites over the past several years. Two of those sites are at SOMO Village in Rohnert Park and the other is at a defunct site in southwest Santa Rosa.
The company insists its technology is safe. It uses microwave energy to break down certain types of plastic waste under oxygen-free conditions into gases that are condensed into pyrolysis oil.
But several local residents pointed out Tuesday that the business is classified under federal environmental standards as “chemical manufacturing” and “other waste incineration.” As such, they said, the project does not belong in a complex surrounded by residences and a school.
“Council members we’re here tonight because the Resynergi project was pushed into our community under the banner of recycling, but the truth is it’s a petrochemical refinery advanced without honest review, without transparency and without the respect for the people that live here,” said Erich Zuver, a local resident who recently bought a home on Walfdorf Lane, in SOMO Village and across the street from Credo High School.
Zuver pointed out that Resynergi’s facility is designed to process 5 tons of waste plastic a day.
“The outputs are clear: about 69% becomes petroleum oil while the rest is waste,” he said, adding that “toxic gas” is burned off in a thermal oxidizer and the operation will produce 100 tons of char ash each year.
“That is incineration and incinerators are explicitly prohibited in SOMO Village,” he said.
The company’s CEO Brian Bauer has stated that the microwave process that heats up and breaks down plastic waste is not incineration or combustion because it happens in an oxygen-free environment.
City officials granted the project an “administrative use permit” because they determined that it was classified as “light industrial,” and thus legally permitted in SOMO Village. Administrative use permits do not require a planning commission hearing.
According to a “news flash” posted by the city manager on the city’s website, staff conducted a “comprehensive review” of the project that involved fire safety and environmental experts, as well as city planning, building, fire, and engineering staff. The administrative use permit was granted last December; it allows Resynergi to initiate operations only after satisfying a number of “conditions of approval.”
These include getting additional city permits, including building and fire permits. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the Rohnert Park City Attorney Michelle Kenyon and City Manager Marcela Piedra both said a key condition is approval by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which on July 18 opened a 30-day public comment period on Resynergi’s application.
After following up on complaints from residents, the air district issued a notice of violation to Resynergi on Aug. 6 for not having an “authority to construct permit” at 1200 Valley House. A few days later, Credo High School’s board voted to request an extension of the air district’s public comment period. The air district extended the public comment period from Aug. 18 to Oct. 3.
Patrick Mundy, a parent of a Credo High student and whose home is also inside SOMO Village, on Tuesday urged council members to consider revoking the administrative use permit and open the issue to public hearings.
“I have been a SOMO Village homeowner for just over a year,” he said. “I urge you to open this up to public comment, to a public hearing and potentially to agendizing at the next meeting an item considering revocation of that administrative permit for Resynergi’s proposed operations.”
Mundy said the operation involves “vaporization of pelletized solid plastic waste by heating with microwaves to between 800 and 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit,” according to the company’s draft engineering evaluation of the project.