GUEST OPINION: High time for county to reject Dutra project

<p>Shollenberger Park in Petaluma is a park, not an industrial site. This city park is a rich and productive historic wetland area restored to support wetland species and to filter impaired water going to San Francisco Bay. It serves a dual purpose of providing an area for dredged river sediments.</p><p>Does this fortunate and rare symbiotic relationship between humankind and the environment imply we should add more heavy industry, pollution, noise and visual blight to this valued resource? Should we forsake its worth as a recreational resource, tourist magnet and wildlife habitat for supposedly cheaper asphalt?</p><p>Reestablishing wetlands takes money, commitment and vision. Our city, Open Space District and state have invested more than $4 million and 15 years into this valued community resource.</p><p>The Petaluma River will be dredged without the Dutra asphalt plant.</p><p>Commercial tonnage on the Petaluma River has grown from 25,000 tons in 1976 to 1.2 million in 2007. Our river has the third highest commercial tonnage in the state.</p><p>Dutra's tactics to scare the community into supporting their sinking project include erroneous and misleading claims that commercial use of the river and U.S. Army Corps dredging will collapse without them.</p><p>Rejecting Dutra's proposal doesn't trigger the end of commerce or river dredging. Dredging will continue as it always has. In fact, for safety reasons, commercial and recreational users are entitled to full access to the 100-foot navigable channel. Dutra's barge and tug mooring location would cut that to 50 feet — a dangerous impairment for all boats.</p><p>Tonnage isn't the only factor to ensure dredging. It's ultimately a political decision. The San Rafael Canal is dredged with congressional support, yet has no commercial tonnage. We won't be dropped from dredging if Dutra's project is rejected.</p><p>To maintain commercial tonnage, Petaluma's general plan retained certain heavy industrial river dependent properties within our city limits. Two of Dutra's proposed asphalt plant parcels outside the city are not designated industrial by the county.</p><p>In 1998, the public approved Measure D to protect the scenic corridor along Highway 101. Changing the land use for Dutra would require county voters to overturn this commitment to open space and to allow an asphalt plant in the gateway to Petaluma and Sonoma County.</p><p>Dutra's barge and tug mooring is a hazard to navigation. Dutra dragged the U.S. Coast Guard into the fray, seeking its endorsement before the later-canceled Dec. 8 supervisors' hearing.</p><p>Instead, the Coast Guard called Dutra out for presenting “inappropriate” and altered maps. Dutra depicted the dredged federal navigational channel conveniently going around their barge and tug mooring location. The U.S. Coast Guard stated: “We are not trying to stop commerce on the river: We're trying to facilitate it. But we feel the (proposed) Dutra plant would be a hazard and wouldn't be safe.”</p><p>Dutra solicited letters of support from other commercial river users but neglected to mention that both Shamrock and Westar are business partners with Dutra. Dutra has still not applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its federal permits to build their docks.</p><p>Dutra got another delay for the final project review by the supervisors until March 16. It's time for the supervisors to stop giving Dutra yet another “lifeline” and stop feeding us incorrect and misleading information.</p><p>The project has been presented as river-dependent, using barges to transport aggregate from Marin County. Without barging, this proposal is completely different, requiring a new EIR under state law.</p><p>It's high time for the county to reject Dutra's project and stop this endless cycle of Dutra digging itself out of messes it creates. Dutra's behavior here, like that in San Rafael, Miami and the Farallones, promises more excuses, more violations of our trust and more problems, leaving us with a toxic and noxious asphalt plant with no buffers, adjacent to our park, river, wildlife and at the entrance to our community.</p><p><i>Heidi Rhymes, a Petaluma resident, served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and is a member of Moms for Clean Air.</i> </p>