The Antelope Valley Times

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Residents offer solution to Kinkisharyo to mitigate environmental concerns

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Kinkisharyo, a world leader in rail car production, announced plans this year to construct a new, permanent manufacturing facility in Palmdale. The City would sell 60 acres of land, located on the corner of Sierra Highway and Avenue M, for $1.3 million to Kinkisharyo and bring utilities and infrastructure to the property, Palmdale officials announced in June. (Image courtesy Kinkisharyo)
Kinkisharyo, a world leader in rail car production, announced plans this year to construct a new, permanent manufacturing facility in Palmdale. The City would sell 60 acres of land, located on the corner of Sierra Highway and Avenue M, for $1.3 million to Kinkisharyo and bring utilities and infrastructure to the property, Palmdale officials announced in June. (Image courtesy Kinkisharyo)

By the Antelope Valley Residents for Responsible Development

The Antelope Valley Residents for Responsible Development (AVRRD) proposed to Kinkisharyo a plan that would mitigate the harmful effects that would result from Kinkisharyo’s controversial construction plan, which is funded entirely by tax dollars. [Read it here.]

At its meeting last week, the City Council voted to postpone the issue until Nov. 5 so that talks about environmental concerns in light of the proposed manufacturing plant can continue between Kinkisharyo and Antelope Valley residents. Members of the residents’ group filed comments in July upon learning that Kinkisharyo was attempting to build a plant in the city without water rights or any sort of environmental review.

“We are in the midst of the worst drought of a lifetime and Kinkisharyo is attempting to avoid this reality, and the law, by building a manufacturing plant without water,” said Kathy Mac Laren, a Palmdale resident and member of AVRRD. “Our proposed plan is reasonable. It will protect residents from harmful emissions and provides a safe path to ensure water access in this desert region. As a taxpayer whose hard-earned dollars help pay for this project, I want to see more accountability from Kinkisharyo. I am encouraged that the city is taking residents’ concerns seriously.”

In a letter to Kinkisharyo’s team of attorneys, residents wrote: “The goal of (our proposal) is to fill the void left by the City of Palmdale’s failure to perform any environmental review of the Project and thus failing to protect air quality, public health, biological resources and supplies of fresh water.”

Under its contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 200 rail cars, Kinkisharyo, LLC is required to maintain all final assembly jobs in Los Angeles County – that means about 200 jobs are guaranteed in LA. The $891 million contract is funded entirely by taxpayer funds, much of which comes directly from LA County taxpayers authorized by the passage of Measure R.

In a letter of support, members of community and environmental groups called on city council members to take the environmental concerns of their constituents seriously and urge Kinkisharyo to follow California law. [Read the letter here.]

“The Proposal raises serious issues of air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and water resources that have never been disclosed,” the letter said.

Kinkisharyo was required to identify a site for its manufacturing plant by August 31, 2012, but it did not apply for permits for the 427,507-square-foot manufacturing site with the city of Palmdale until April 30, 2014 – a year and a half after the deadline.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The AV Times.

Email letters@www.theavtimes.com to submit a story to Your Issues | Your News.

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Editor’s note: In a letter dated October 10, Kinkisharyo International forfeited its decision to construct the 400,000-square-foot rail car manufacturing plant in Palmdale. The company blames AVRRD for this decision. Read more at: Plans for Kinkisharyo plant in Palmdale derailed by labor dispute

Previous related story: Kinkisharyo to build rail manufacturing site in Palmdale

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Filed Under: Opinion

40 comments for "Residents offer solution to Kinkisharyo to mitigate environmental concerns"

  1. I have been a resident of of the av for more than 50 years. One of the problems I see is too much power has been given to the environmental people. Some years ago I was employed at GLC for 13 years. The company had a run-in with the environmental people back then , they wanted unreasonable changes immediately. The company said it could not be done and so the company submitted a reasonable plan they wouldn’t budge. In the end 150 employees lost there livelihood. Thank you for letting me vent

  2. Nicely done unions . No wonder you are being stomped out across the country like the cockroaches you are.

  4. The property in question is a mirror image of Lockheed’s Plant 10. When the USAF sold the property in the late 50’s it was the understanding that the two corner parcels were to be used for aircraft manufacturing purposes and the property west of Sierra Hwy. between Ave. M and Ave. N to 10th St. West would remain in government ownership as a crash zone and not for sale. This property was well used in the 50’s and 60’s with several F-104’s crashing there. As recently as 1980 with the renewal of the B-1 program there was some thought by Rockwell of building the assembly building there, later a 40 year lease was signed by Rockwell and LA dept of Airports to build PAC Site on Ave. P.
    I have real problems with this rail car plant being funded by the City of Palmdale, the idea of spend who know’s what for an estimated 200 jobs is ridiculous. Ledford have you lost your mind?

    • 200 plant jobs. Plus a couple hundred contractor jobs to build the place. Plus more local paychecks for spending at local businesses. The money is already there via measure R passed back in 2008, so our half cent sales tax being used to give our valley jobs seems like a great deal to me.

    • I’m sorry, but I am Confused by your statement. What does Ledford have to do with this? It is an argument between the company and the union.

      • Any City can direct aid to stimulate jobs, the problem is using cold hard tax money rather than tax forgiveness to create jobs.
        About jobs, the biggest event in the history of the Antelope Valley happened during 1971-1973 when Lockheed had 10,000 of us working on the L-1011, that’s what we need to see again, not 200 here and 100 there.

        • Who wouldn’t love to see 10,000 jobs come to Lockheed again. There are several factors that hinder that. The state of California with regulations and taxes makes it nearly impossible for manufacturing businesses to be profitable here. Just look at Toyota, Tesla, and now Kinkisharo. You have aggressive poaching by states like Texas, and politicians willing to cooperate with moving business from California to elsewhere in order to satify the party. Then you have the loss of redevelopment monies which could be used for business incentives. Now that money goes to the state, and see point one for why that is not good for business attraction.

        • Are you serious? We don’t need 200 new jobs? I think if you talk to the unemployed of the Antelope Valley, they would disagree. Your post is so dumb, I can only imagine that you’re a shill for the unions. Yet another project the victim of a union shakedown.

        • Steve, that “aid” was from tax increment financing… Also known as the Redevelopment Authority. Hasn’t been around for a few years, as Jerry Brown and his crackpot dem majority killed the only real economic development tool around.

    • (enter your city here) RRD is just a union front tactic to extort a PLA using the CEQA ACT.
      Once union workers are hired, the “enviornmental concerns” magically disappear. It’s called “greenmailing”.
      Google “unions use greenmailing” to get insight to the tactic the unions use.

  5. Palmdale City Screwed UP!!!!!

    Palmdale should have a habitat mitigation plan for this area and other development areas in Palmdale as part of responsible government. A 20+ year old EIR is not responsible a lot has changed in 20 + years of growth here. This was a lawsuit just waiting to happen.

    We are losing prime desert habitat at an alarming rate in Palmdale. Lancaster has but a couple of hundred acres left of it and has mitigation plan. Why not Palmdale.

    Lancaster needs to buy and preserve the last 20 acres left next to the Prime Desert Woodland Park Preserve south of Ave K-4 and 35th St West. ASAP before land values go up.

    Palmdale, Lancaster, and County need to work on a regional mitagation plan that preserve and exspands more Poppy Reserve land and Buttes in Lake La and foothills of Littlerock, etc for future generations. And is a Win Win for future developments and habitat.

    • Palmdale better not let the union and this development group win! I don’t care if you live in palmdale/Lancaster, we are all antelope valley and we need those 200 jobs

      • prime desert habitat? Uh have you heard of that 2,400 suare mile desert habitat known as the Mojave National Preserve? Plenty of desert habitat preserved. This is industrial land next to an Air Force plant.

        And sorry to burst your bubble, but Palmdale can’t do a damned thing to force Kikisharyo to use a union, or to make the union go away. This is between Kikisharo and the union, and I blame the union most of all. It has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with union dues. If it truly was about the environment, this union backed group would be suing every development in Kalifornia. Sad times.

    • You are correct the 20 year old EIR needs to be updated to show that due to a massive increase in human population, building of a soccer complex, massive increase in traffic, etc that there are now zero coyotes living in that area, very few rabbits and other rodents, no snakes, few birds including our ever present ravens because there is no carrion.

      • Are you are insinuating that there is actually civilization around the location? You mean like industrial development, the building of airplanes, and Air Force plant, and future industrial development? I was told by Marvin Crist that children would die if a power plant was built at that location. I know Marvin is full of poop, but what do you think?

      • There was an update. The Initial Study was the subject of a couple public hearings, and it found the previous proposal for the Lockheed Industrial Park always actually larger and more intensive than this fabrication plant.

  6. Palmdale needs to grow a pair and build the plant. At the same time create a mitigation plan preserving habitat for anything that could be there, weather or not it is known at this time.
    Plan ahead and put a habitat preservation plan in place for all future development, designate areas for both, and get this done.

    • Earth to Myrle…Earth to Myrle… Palmdale isn’t building the plant. Kinkisharyo is and the IBEW Union is using the ridiculous California environmental laws to stop it. They could do this for any project they oppose. It is called green mail.

    • In the 24 years I’ve lived in the AV, I have rarely if ever heard anyone mention habitats or the environment as large housing tracts are built with streets and sidewalks permanently covering the ground for probably centuries.

      Yet, whenever a power plant or a factory is planned, that becomes an issue, i.e., things like Joshua trees being removed. In some places the Joshuas are like a forest and in other places not so many.

      I drove out to where the proposed Palmdale Hybrid Power Plant is planned last year to see for myself. There were few Joshua trees in that area compared to other areas. Yet, some people were complaining about destroying them. If that’s the case, then all building in the AV should be stopped completely.

  7. This “Antelope Valley Residents for Responsible Development” is a new organization. I am wondering if it could be a “front” for the labor union that filed the environmental report?

    Something’s fishy about this.

      • They had better be careful not to chase this business prospect away from our community. If they do, there are going to be lots of angry, jobless people who will be fed up.

        • Well, they did…….. They don’t really care about jobs and people unless they are union jobs and union people. The only thing unions are successful at these days is making companies move overseas or making them go out of business. I am seeing more clearly why conservatives are successfully breaking unions across the country. They had their place at one time but like dinosaurs, they need to become extinct.

      • i am proud to be a union member, all we ash for is to give the employees a right to vote in a union, or vote no. and for chasing away employers.. well if they only want to pay sub-standard wages, offer a unsafe place to work, and not be treated like non-humans, then they have no place here, union members belive in 8 for 8. a safe place to work,… just because you choose no to belive dont bring us down to your standards, raise yours…

        IBEW lu 226 member

        • Unsafe place to work, doubt it. OSHA.

          ” and not be treated like non-humans”. I would very much enjoy not being treated as a non-human. LOL – typos are fun.

          Pay, that depends, some unions get decent pay, it is still negotiated and if a strike happens…..

        • Whats a sub standard wage? An unsafe place to work? Ive done as many unsafe things as a union member that I did as non union. With Cal OSHA around companies would be stupid to have an unsafe place to work around.

          The whole line about not bringing you down to their standards is a joke. So because they dont want to go union they shouldnt be allowed to work? How many jobs did your union just cost this Valley? And at a time when good paying jobs are hard to find?

          • ok fair enuff, when your boss replaces you with a lower paying emmployee, then just rember he has to eat too… have fun working at wal-mart

    • I’m taking bets on whether Rex will run again for mayor.

      Closing the the Metrolink station, roundabouts, BYD, Morton and even solar isn’t something the residents are too excited about. The new Kaiser hospital and the cancer center are getting favorable comments.

      I never hear comments hear or elsewhere about residents of Lancaster being excited about their new solar panels their roofs, either here or elsewhere. Not one time. It’s supposed to be a BFD.

      There may have been cases, but I’ve never heard or read one.

      • Yes, turn the subject toward Rex Parris, which you always love to do do.

        I hate to tell you this but I think it’s your home-grown union/Democrat Looney Toons there in Palmdale who are going to be responsible for this if it gets cancelled.

        • @Mike R.

          Are you referring to the comment above mine to which I was replying to.

          And, if the deal goes through will it be because of my home-grown union/Democrat Looney Toons here in Palmdale?

          We’ll se if your username appears here ever again if it does go through.

        • now there’s a real republican—-Paris. Sues businesses, school districts, and cities, tries to stop job creating projects like a power plants, promoting birth tourism with a communist country.

          • Republicans hate trials lawyers that sue, sue, sue. ($1,000,000,000 in settlements for Rex according to the billboards)

            They blame the high cost of health care on them.

            Rex is a republican unless he’s pretending not to be one for political reasons.

            So, republicans should hate Rex. Doesn’t that make sense?

            What’s it called when you preach one thing and do the opposite?

  9. I am sure another city down in the LA basin would love more jobs. Go ahead and push these jobs away, plus the construction jobs.

    • No they won’t stay in CA. I have a very close family member employed here. Kinki will go out of state. It is already being considered.