Amador County – The Amador County Planning Commission last week approved the Buena Vista Biomass Power plant permit amendment and environmental documents after discussion of impacts, including jobs.

The commission unanimously approved the Final Subsequent Environmental Impact Report on the former Cogen combustion power plant on Coal Mine Road, which its applicant said would employ 19 people.

Several people spoke about keeping jobs local, including Bill May of Jackson Valley Road. May said “Buena Vista Biomass Power is not willing to guarantee one single job,” and he urged the commission to require local hiring in the conditions of approval.

Greg Gillott, an attorney in the county counsel’s office said “there are constitutional limits on the kind of conditions you can place on businesses, and I believe Mr. May’s suggestion exceeds those limits.”

A woman from Mother Lode Job Training said about 18 months ago, she was contacted by 200 people who were interested in the “the likes of 20 jobs” at the Buena Vista plant, but she said any action with the prospective employees was stalled as the applicant worked on its Subsequent EIR.

Buena Vista Biomass Power’s applicant, Michael J. Muston, president and CEO of Otoka Local Renewable Energy, of Bloomington, Minnesota, said: “I find this a bit intriguing, the concept that we do not want to hire people from Amador County.” He was happy to hear Mother Lode Job Training was working with applicants, but he hadn’t worked with them yet.

Muston said the only reason he would bring people into the county to work was if another facility closed, but there was no other facility. He believes there is ample numbers of people available locally with good job experience.

He wants people born and raised here, with families and kids, who are more likely to stay. He said: “If you want me to come back and look you in the eye and tell you how many people we hired from Amador County, I’ll do it.”

Commissioner Dave Wardall said two Ione companies, Lou Yager Construction and Carson Yager Trucking, had both worked for Muston. Civil engineer Robin Peters said Muston has “kept seven or eight of us employed rather steadily to get this open,” including Weatherbee Reynolds, Chuck Cree Surveying, and Sweet Pea Septic. Peters said the applicant was looking for local workers, and asked him if he knew anybody else who could help them.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.