<div><ul><li>Residents of Boron, a desert community in Kern County, feel forgotten and are facing worsening dust issues due to nearby solar project construction.</li></ul>Residents of the desert community of Boron say they feel forgotten.Located on the eastern edge of Kern County, the unincorporated town of just over 2,000 people has long felt distant from the halls of power, but an ongoing issue with dust is making those sentiments worse.Dust is a natural part of the desert landscape, but residents claim that ever since construction started on a nearby solar project, the dust has become worse.And despite the town being home to the multimillion-dollar solar project and a U.S. Borax-owned mine — the county's seventh largest taxpayer — residents say the town's infrastructure needs continue to pile up."It's like the county wants the city to die," said Corrie Walker, a Boron resident who said she contracted valley fever following the start of construction."People have put their homes up for sale, people have already left," she said. "Not all of us can really afford it. We're on fixed incomes or disability."Like many small towns, residents say decisions made far away are placing a burden on their community while sharing few, if any, of the benefits.Several residents noted that once the solar project, known as Aratina, is completed, the town itself will not receive any of the power generated."Power is going south," said Alison Capusta, another resident. "Isn't that kind of rotten?"In order to build the 2,300-acre solar array, the company — El Dorado Hills-based Avantus — had to pull up the local vegetation, including thousands of protected Joshua trees, another move that wasn't beloved locally.When winds pick up, the dust can be overwhelming. That's what residents say happened May 17, when a windstorm sent plumes of dust over Boron and nearby Desert Lake."Sunday was very, very windy," Mitchell Nakaahiti said. "A coach, he told me the next day, Monday, at practice, he said, 'Man, that dust was so bad!' He turned his air conditioner on and dust came out of his ducts."In an email, Avantus spokesperson Katie Struble said the company prioritizes air quality and takes proactive steps to mitigate dust.Ahead of the May 17 wind event, Struble said, the company took preventative steps and had six water trucks running from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.That Tuesday, Nakaahiti drove all the way to Bakersfield to ask the Kern County Board of Supervisors for help."Workers on site have respirators and workplace protections. Children practicing outside and residents leaving next door do not," Nakaahiti said at the board's May 19 meeting."The request is direct: Order Planning and Natural Resources (Department) to determine whether (the project) complied with all dust control conditions on May 17th."In full compliance ... and moreAccording to multiple county officials, the company has complied with all dust control measures and even taken additional steps not required by law."The air district has said that this applicant has been in compliance with all of the requirements that they require," said Craig Murphy, director of the county's Planning and Natural Resources Department."I could even tell you that based on concerns we had had before, there was some adoptive management that took place."Avantus has several water trucks working the site to control dust, and even got special approval from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to apply a special polymer treatment known as "gorilla snot."High winds and dust were recorded across the county that day, and there was no indication the dust originated from the Aratina site, county officials said."This is a concern. Not only do I serve here, but I also serve on the East Kern Air Pollution Control District," said District 2 Supervisor Chris Parlier, whose district covers eastern Kern."So mitigating dust in any form is important, but sometimes it's hard to control, you know, Mother Nature. And when winds get around 30 miles an hour, dust was not only prevalent in the desert, but here in the valley and Bakersfield also."Some residents say the company should do more to compensate residents. To try to bring more funds into the community, one resident, Megan Pater, started the East Kern Community Foundation to advocate for the town."We are a classic case of managed decline; that's how it feels," Pater told The Californian.Pater said she's working on trying to form what would be the state's second Community Revitalization and Investment Authority, or CRIA.Created in 2015, CRIAs are a type of type of tax increment financing district that increases funding for and production of affordable housing in disadvantaged communities as well as other types of infrastructure projects, according to the Southern California Association of Governments.So far only one has been created, in Victorville.Where the benefits goMoney generated for local communities from solar projects has been another point of contention. Kern County generates a significant amount of the state's solar energy but state tax exemptions for the industry have limited how much counties can collect.In 2022, Kern enacted its own per-acre cumulative impact charge to capture additional revenue from the county's solar projects. But Boron residents say that money goes to the county's general fund, and there's no guarantee it'll come back to east Kern.Most Boron residents said they weren't necessarily opposed to the solar industry, but are frustrated with how the current situation is managed."If it's going to help us, then we need it. Nobody else is helping us. The county is not helping us. I mean, who else is helping us here?" Nakaahiti said."The problem is if you give it to the county, the county's not going to tell you how much they got and they're not going to give you what you need. That's what I see out here. It's benefiting somebody else. It's not benefiting the community."Not everyone shares such a dismal view of the situation.Anthony Espindola is president of the Boron Chamber of Commerce. He said that while, yes, the dust situation is worse since construction started, it's a temporary side effect and Avantus works hard to support the community.Once construction finishes, Espindola said, vegetation beneath the panels would return, making the environment much like it was before."What we're going to be left with is the aesthetics of the solar panels," Espindola said."Now, that's not the nicest thing, it's not the best view. It's not something I desire as a photographer. I like scenic views, but you can't always pick your neighbors."The community has a complicated relationship with nearby solar projects, Espindola said. In 2017, when the community was first approached about the project, the company offered several construction projects but was turned down by the community, believing the project wouldn't be approved."(Zack Scrivner) was the current supervisor. Well, he came up and to a podium right in front of my restaurant. I remember, we did the ribbon-cutting ceremony and then he assured the community that he wasn't going to vote for solar. And that he wasn't going to allow it," Espindola said."I don't know if Zack voted no or yes, but either way, he didn't have the power or the pull to squash this project."Espindola, who serves on a community panel started by Avantus to engage residents, said the county and the company have been good partners, and there are discussions about future infrastructure projects."Knowing that Aratina is not going to build and sell this solar project, like they do most of their other solar projects, they're committed to being long-term community neighbors," Espindola said. "Now, the dust, it is an issue, but we have a solar company that's working with us."In an email, Avantus' Struble said the business is committed to working with the community and created a community partnership panel to engage with residents.With high winds forecast throughout the area this weekend, Struble said the company has again taken proactive steps to mitigate dust."Dedicated personnel will be onsite to oversee dust control, with water trucks operating throughout the weekend and mulch application ongoing," she said.In the past year, the Aratina project contributed $30,000 to local organizations and events and the project has provided hundreds of local jobs. The company has said the project is expected to generate more than $30 million over the course of its lifespan.In the past week, the partnership panel voted to add several projects to move forward on, Struble said, with the panel prioritizing youth, education, civic and cultural initiatives as key funding areas.Speaking to The Californian, Parlier said he understands the community's concerns that the main benefits of the project are going elsewhere."I'm not necessarily in disagreement, but I have to play the cards I've been dealt, and those cards are a previously approved facility," Parlier said.In the past year, Parlier said, he's worked to provide $500,000 to the Boron community for parks, baseball fields and Flock Safety cameras on the roadways."My ambition is to help that community and the availability that I have, and that was really a massive investment into that community with monies to redo that park and help that community in other ways that I'm able," the supervisor said.Parlier noted legislation under consideration in Sacramento would extend the solar industry's tax credits, which are set to expire."When you're talking about areas along the coast and other regions that get our power that would never want a solar field anywhere close to them because they want the benefits, but they don't want the infrastructure," Parlier said, "I have a significant problem with that."Strong feelingsThe dust situation provokes strong emotions for a lot of residents. As a docent at the Saxon Aerospace Museum, Alison Capusta said she half-jokingly warns construction workers on the project who visit the museum not to tell townspeople who they're working for.At least one family decided to relocate due to the health of their asthmatic son."I feel betrayed by the county. They knew the issues that would come, they knew that there were valley fever spores in the soil, yet they still let the projects happen," Jessica Beyer said in an email."I used to be proud to be from Kern County. This is no longer the case. They put financial gain over their residents."Speaking to The Californian, Shelley Keller-Gage, a former chamber president, noted Beyer's leaving."That was very sad because they were active in the community," she said.Construction is expected to take another year, and Keller-Gage said she hopes the dust situation will be temporary, but she worries about how the proliferation of solar arrays in the desert will impact the future of the community, particularly as the projects age."I am upset about what's happening with the desert. I've always enjoyed aesthetics of the desert and they're being destroyed," she said. "I'm all for alternative energy but I do kind of worry about the endgame."</div>

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Residents of Boron, a desert community in Kern County, feel forgotten and are facing worsening dust issues due to nearby solar project construction. Residents of the desert community of Boron say they feel forgotten. Located on the eastern edge of Kern County, the unincorporated town of just over 2,000 people...

Ongoing dust issues rankle Boron residents

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Residents of Boron, a desert community in Kern County, feel forgotten and are facing worsening dust issues due to nearby solar project construction. Reside

Ongoing dust issues rankle Boron residents

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