More than 90 Bloomfield and area residents took time out from their holiday plans to attend a hastily scheduled town hall-style meeting Saturday at the Bloomfield Cultural Center, where B8D LLC addressed concerns about its proposed fracking sand facility.
Residents first raised concerns at the Dec. 16 Bloomfield Planning and Zoning Committee meeting about the facility, along U.S. Highway 550 and Arizona Avenue, a site easily seen from vehicles passing by on the highway.
The meeting was organized to explain the sand-processing facility operation and the proposed reservoir and recreational area B8D intends to donate to the city of Bloomfield. The Planning and Zoning Commission passed a motion Monday recommending the city deny the zoning change request that will allow the facility to proceed.
Saturday’s meeting quickly turned rowdy as people shouted out questions, statements and accusations at B8D members Brock Brockinton and Mark Curry.
Before the meeting, Tri-City Record asked Brockinton about the excavation that has already taken place at the site, and if B8D had received reassurances from anyone in Bloomfield city government giving them any indication that the zoning change from agricultural to heavy industrial use was sure to pass.
Brockinton said that no such reassurance had been received and that because of the current agricultural zoning they were allowed to “move dirt” without a permit. Some dirt has
Bloomfield City Council meets Monday
The sole issue before the regularly scheduled Bloomfield City Council meeting at 6 p.m. Monday is whether to approve or deny a zoning change application from agricultural to heavy industrial use requested by B8D LLC.
The meeting is scheduled at its normal location in the City Council chambers at City Hall, 915 N. First St.
After approval of the regular consent agenda, the City Council will hear a presentation from Brock Brockinton and Mark Curry from B8D. This will be followed by public comments, which will be limited to 3 minutes per person.
The council is then expected to vote on the change.
already been moved down to bedrock.
Despite the Planning and Zoning Commission’s denial recommendation, City Council is not required to follow that recommendation and plans are that on Monday, Dec. 23, a decision to approve or deny the zone change is expected to be made.
Brockinton and Curry on Saturday tried to present a PowerPoint presentation explaining the company’s plans and to explain how the sand would be processed. At the beginning of the presentation, Brockinton said they would answer questions as they went along, but repeated shouts from the audience interrupted the presentation.
One resident requested that everyone hold their questions until the end so that the entire presentation could be viewed, but once again the presentation was interrupted and during the three-hour meeting the PowerPoint presentation was never able to be completed.
Frequently, the meeting devolved into separate discussions as Curry and Brockinton attempted to answer questions from groups of citizens.
Plans are for the company to build and operate their frack sand processing facility, and to donate a portion of their land to the city for a freshwater reservoir and small parklike recreation area, similar to Tiger Pond in Aztec.
Prior to the meeting, Bloomfield City Manager George Duncan had explained that the city of Bloomfield had been searching for a site for a needed additional reservoir to serve citizens and had taken core samples at the site, which was for sale. They had hoped to purchase it, but learned they had been outbid by B8D, which had been looking for a place to locate their facility to provide fracking sand at a reduced cost to local drilling operations. Currently the sand is trucked in from Sanders, Arizona, which adds significantly to its cost.
At the meeting, Brockinton said when B8D learned after their purchase on Aug. 5 of this year that the city had hoped to buy the land to build a reservoir, the company submitted a letter of intent to the city to donate some land and construct a reservoir on a portion of the land they would not use to the city.
Further muddying the waters for citizens was that Ryan Lane, an Aztec attorney who serves as an attorney for the city of Bloomfield, is the legal representative for B8D.
City Manager George Duncan affirmed before the meeting that while Lane is the city’s attorney, representing the city at this point would be a clear conflict of interest, so the city has retained attorney Nann Winters from Albuquerque as the city’s attorney.
One citizen in the crowd mentioned that the credibility of the city and the company are in question because things have already been set in motion and just now citizens are learning the extent of the project. Frustration over the lack of transparency was expressed. The objection was made that earthmoving began 90 days ago, and more information is just now coming before the public, one week before the City Council votes on the approved zoning change.
Many of the questions and complaints are the same as was voiced at the Planning and Zoning meeting, most of which are included in the Commission’s findings of fact submitted to the Bloomfield City Council in their meeting packet.
Bloomfield residents’ issues include:
- Proximity to Naaba Ani Elementary School and long-existing residential areas.
- Health risks, immediate and long-term, including silicosis.
- Concerns about the Impacts to air quality.
- Noise and light pollution.
- Heavy and possible increase of truck traffic, with negative impact to city streets
- Negative impact on property values, increased homeowner insurance rates.
- Objections to excavation beginning before zoning change approval.
- Plans for remediation and reclamation post-project.
At the town hall meeting, B8D said they did not anticipate more truck traffic than currently exists, which was strenuously objected to by citizens who claimed the estimate of 80 trucks per day was too low.
B8D offered to put in air quality and water flow monitors, and explained that their process uses water to clean the sand from clay and other organic materials. B8D assured compliance with environmental regulations.
One of the biggest and most often cited complaints was about the industrial use of irrigation ditch water. Brockinton and Curry explained what they estimated as their water use and explained how much of the water they draw will be recycled within their facility.
Heather Dostaler shared some perspectives on water use from the point of view not only as a fifth-generation farmer and land user, but most importantly from her professional position as the Watershed and Health Soils Coordinator for the San Juan Soil and Water Conservation District.
She explained that the output from Navajo Dam to the San Juan River system, from which the area’s water is drawn, is now at the minimum low flow that is allowed so as to not impact native species and wildlife. Normally in December the outflow would be in the 600 to 1,000 cubic foot per second range but it is at 350 cfs.
“We face potential long-term effects in our area for drought conditions in this region,” she noted. The watershed snowpack is only at 48% so far this year, when it should be in the 70% range for late December. “This year’s weather pattern already is putting us into a predicament for what our farmers and ranchers will have access to before we introduce another industrial, commercial use,” she said.
She had reams of information as to water issues within the region which she shared for interested community members as well as B8D. She plans to speak at Monday’s City Council meeting.
City Council members and mayor were advised not to attend the town hall meeting so that they would remain unbiased until the City Council meeting on Monday.
One question was raised as to B8D’s plans for the site if the zoning change is not approved. Brockinton said the corporation has not yet evaluated what would happen if that were the case.
