VIDEO: A heated public hearing
Last night, I covered the Kings County Planning Commission hearing regarding Waste Management’s proposal to expand its hazardous waste landfill at its Kettleman Hills facility. The public comment portion of the hearing, which attracted more than 500 people, was held at 6 p.m. at the Kings County Fairgrounds.
Throughout the first 90 minutes of the hearing, Waste Management supporters, many of them wearing green “I Support WM: Vote Yes” t-shirts, spoke in favor of the project.
Around 7 p.m., about 50 Kettleman City residents gathered outside the fair exhibition hall. The residents chanted phrases such as, “Si Se Puede!” (“Yes we can!”) and “Que racismo!” (“How racist!”), and a number of the residents held large pictures of the five Kettleman City infants who were born with birth defects in the span of about two years, three of whom have since died.
The residents continued chanting as they approached the doorway of the exhibition hall. As their rallying calls began to interrupt the public hearing, a member of the Planning Commission asked the residents to stop the disruption. Soon, police officers approached the doorway, and escorted Ramón Mares – who was leading the group of protesters – out of the meeting and off the premises.
Below are videos of this disruption. Complete coverage of the hearing will soon be available at vidaenelvalle.com.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fuv4P8pBE0E
