With the Pima County Board of Supervisors poised to grant County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry a whopping $8000 raise, plus increased vacation and sick time, plus a $6600 car allowance in lieu of using available county vehicles, Huckelberry has let his vindictive side show once again.
At the November BOS meeting agribusiness giant Monsanto’s plans for a GMO seed factory in the Avra Valley ran into an outpouring of public opposition. Sixty speakers spent the morning taking Monsanto, and the Supervisors, to task. At issue is BOS support for a Foreign Trade Zone designation for the corporation’s 155 acre site near Marana High School which would cut its property taxes by two-thirds. Monsanto bought the property from Marana Town Council member Herb Kai.
Pima Community College has refused to go along with the program, but the Marana Unified School District’s Governing Board unanimously approved accepting a one-time payment instead of normal taxes that would pay out seven times as much over five years.
Critics cited thousands of studies showing GMOs and glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, linked to blood cancers, autism, birth defects, endocrine disruption, and other conditions. Glyphosate has been labeled a “probable carcinogen” by the World Health Organization and has been heavily restricted or banned in many countries. The Environmental Protection Agency, which relied on pesticide industry studies for its approval in the past, is now wrestling with renewal of the glyphosate license in light of the growing evidence of its dangers.
The public outcry forced the Supervisors to postpone their vote until February 21, with a promise of public meetings where their concerns could be heard and responded to. On January 3, the day of the BOS monthly meeting, Huckelberry released a schedule for those meetings, one in each supervisorial district. They are all at least 20 miles from the Avra Valley site where some 20,000 people live and go to school. Those most affected by Monsanto’s operations, including some who have been sickened by aerial spraying of glyphosate in the Avra Valley, will have to drive to Tucson, or to the Ellie Towne Community Center, or the Oro Valley Library, to make themselves heard.
Huckelberry’s tenure as County Administrator was an issue in the last Supervisorial elections, and his supporters were returned to office by the voters. Apparently he sees that as a mandate to get even. The Avra Valley has been a focal point of opposition to Huckelberry’s proposed Interstate 11 route that would hurt jobs, tourism, air quality and the environment in the valley. His use of county staff and resources to interfere in the last election is under investigation by the state Attorney General’s office.
The County’s new Monsanto website with the meeting schedule is at http://www.webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=314745. The form includes a link for feedback.