Community resistance to a plan to sort, process and pack hundreds of thousands of tons of Camp Fire debris once again has officials back on the hunt for a site.
Officials appear to be rethinking plans to use an abandoned Oroville lumber mill as a transfer station for fire debris.
Reached by email, CalOES spokesman Brad Alexander said officials had not finalized a list of potential sites. The Kopper’s site, a former mill that also produced pressure treated products, was named as the preferred alternative several weeks ago. A second potential site that would use the same rail spur is nearby.
Assemblyman James Gallagher said that may now be in flux.
“I haven’t really gotten any definite word on that. I know that was being looked at as a potential site for the debris collection.” Gallagher said.
Officials are scheduled to begin trucking Camp Fire debris to a processing site within two weeks. Debris will be sorted, crushed and loaded on to railroad cars bound for a distant landfill.
Following vociferous complaints from neighboring residents and businesses, an earlier plan to process it in Chico was scuppered.
Opposition has also emerged in Oroville.