SLUDGE VICTIMS

sewage sludge from the Inland Empire Utilities Agency's treatment plants and the abundant cow manure from the region's dairies into compost used to fertilize mostly gardens and lawns.

The operation has two sections: One composts pure cow manure, the other composts a mixture of manure and sewage sludge. To reduce dust, the expanded operation would include two enclosed structures for sifting and bagging the compost.

The prison, built in 1952, has little air conditioning. Filters in window coolers are filthy in a month, said Sebald, the prison spokesman. "I come to work in a white pickup truck and at the end of the day it's a brown pickup truck," Sebald said.

Dust filled the prison, especially the administration building and visiting room, on Christmas Day when a strong wind kicked up, Sebald said. The Department of Corrections supports the recycling mission of the composting plant and is seeking a solution that will ease the impacts on the prison, Kettle said. "We've been working really diligently with the folks across the street," Kettle said.

Kettle confirmed that several prison employees have filed workers compensation claims citing dust exposure, but he would not comment finiher on the claims.

An inmate's complaint At least the prison workers can leave at the end of their shifts, said Green, who has been an inmate at C1W for 12 years. Prisoners can't escape exposure, she said.

Green said she had "horrendous" surgery on her sinuses and that she believes exposure to compost dust is responsible. "My entire lifetime, I never had a sinus problem or an allergy," she said. After the composting operation started up, Green said, she started experiencing a sore throat, a runny nose and headaches.

Her doctor told her she had chronic nasal infections, she said. Finally, she underwent surgery that involved drilling through the roof of her mouth to clean out her sinuses. Doctors tell Green she should have the surgery again, but she refuses to repeat the ordeal, she said.

"If this was near Beverly Hills or Los Angeles," Green said, "where there was a neighborhood, they would move it or pay."

COMPOSTING FACILITIES - Where: 8100 Chino-Corona Road Size: 97 acres
Agency seeks: To increase the 150 tons of sewage sludge received daily to 200 tons and to increase the 310 truck trips to 460 round trips a day. Plant makes: "Class A" compost - sludge and manure treated to make it as safe as fertilizer typically sold at retail nurseries.

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY - AIRBORNE PARTICLES FROM COMPOSTING FACILITY CAUSE INMATES AND PRISON EMPLOYEES TO SUFFER RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS, CHRONIC SINUS INFECTIONS, SORE THROAT, RUNNY NOSE, HEADACHES - WORKMEN'S COMP CLAIMS FILED.