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Round One: I was awoken by a gravel truck heading north through Ojai on Route 33 just north of El Roblar at 2:55am. Staying awake for the next two hours I saw four more heading north. Two were of the red and white type that Valley Bulk uses with Ozena. The others were the double hopper dump truck style used by Ortiz Trucking and Cardenas Trucking. My observations of these trucks were later confirmed by John Broesamly of Ojai, who spent the early hours of the morning truck spotting just outside the Ozena facility in Cuyama.

Round Two: Leaving Ojai at 7:00am via Route 33 South on my way to work in Oxnard I saw one loaded truck from Cardenas heading south and spotted three more heading north. Two were Valley Bulk, the other was from Ortiz. These vehicles were all in violation of the next blackout period (7-9am).

Round Three: On my way home from work, I entered Casitas Springs at 3:45pm and spotted one empty truck from Cardenas heading north and saw two more loaded double hopper type trucks heading south. These trucks were of the style used by Ozena in their own website photos which apparently have absolutely no corporate markings on them, a seemingly common practice. These were also during a black out period for Ozena, which is not allowed to ship in either direction through Ojai after 3:00pm on weekdays.

Although these violations were recorded on a single day, in fact they could have been recorded on any single weekend since Route 33 was reopened after the Day Fire.

Despite the fact that since March of 2007, the Ojai “Stop the Trucks” Coalition has sent over 35 public letters and emails to Mr. Ellison and that there have been over 25 news stories about the gravel truck situation, the department has apparently informed Supervisor Bennett that there has only been one complaint against Ozena last year and that is was supposedly investigated.

These news stories have appeared in the LA Times, the Ventura County Star, the Ojai Valley News, the Pacific Coast Business Times, the Ventura Reporter, the Santa Barbara News Press, the Santa Barbara Independent,; and the Santa Maria Times. Additionally the Ventura Planning Department staff was sent copies of over 350 letters complaining about trucks that were originally sent to the Santa Barbara Planning Commission along with a copy of an Ojai City Council meeting in January of 2007 in which dozens of citizens complained about truck operations.

That any intelligent public employee would consider Ozena’s violations non-existent, minimal or a non-issue, is too ludicrous to be given any credibility at all. That, we the citizens of the Ojai Valley are forced to do the monitoring of a permit issued by the County, also borders on the absurd.

The constant violation of the hours of trucking has created an intolerable situation for the residents of the Ojai Valley. It has increased the not only the number and hours of trucking, but has potentially increased air pollution and noise pollution; diminished the quality of life and property values of all those who live along the Route 33 corridor; increased the odds of accidents on all stretches of Route 33; perhaps inflated the profits of Mr. Virgilio and possible others and opened up the County to civil liability lawsuits.

Further, the Ozena mining operation is now in ongoing and massive violation of their C.U.P. for regularly running trucks at hours outside the limits. There exists no reason for them to even be in business now while they are awaiting the EIR process. Given the enormity of their violations it is inappropriate that they would even be considered for a new C.U.P.

I respectfully ask you to investigate this matter and to take appropriate actions that lead to a termination of the Ozena C.U.P.

Sincerely,
Howard Smith

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The Stop the Trucks phone number is 805-640-2524

Find the complaint form at: http://ojaivalleynews.com/blogPDFs/truckviolation.pdf