BARSTOW - A public hearing on an environmental study of the cleanup of Hinkley's groundwater brought criticism of the Community Advisory Committee set up by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. nearly two years ago.

Residents and members of the committee claim PG&E exerts too much influence over the body and question whether PG&E employees should be part of the committee.

Darron Banks was among those Hinkley residents speaking Wednesday who believes that PG&E "absolutely controls" the monthly meetings - from setting the agenda to determining who can speak.

Banks and other community members - including some community advisory members - want PG&E out of the CAC.

"The community doesn't want them on the board anymore," said Lester White, who is co-chair of Community Advisory Committee.

"They still want PG&E involved, but they don't want PG&E up there influencing things," he said.

PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said the committee was formed to solicit feedback from the public.

Because Hinkley is an unincorporated community, there is no governing body to reach out to, he said.

"We wanted to have a dialogue in the community," Smith said, explaining why it formed the advisory committee.

Since its formation, some committee members and area residents have become increasingly wary of PG&E's involvement on the committee.

"PG&E got the community action committee going, and we

appreciate that," White said. "We are mature enough now and we can do it on our own."

Smith said PG&E would consider the feedback.

"We are going to take a hard look at whether we should remain a voting member," Smith said Friday.

Patricia Kouyoumdjian, who in April was named executive director of the Lahontan Regional Water Board, said she has not seen a community committee dealing with a hazardous waste cleanup structured the way this one is - with the polluter having voting positions.

She intends to look into why it was structured that way, she said.

The concerns come as residents consider difficult choices in the cleanup of a chromium 6 plume that is now some six miles long and two miles wide.

In the 1950s and 1960s, before the cancer-causing properties of chromium 6 were known, PG&E dumped cooling tower water laced with the chemical into an unlined pit, where it seeped into the groundwater.

According to the environmental study, there are no simple ways to clean up the plume.

Injecting alcohol into the ground, which is the fastest way to convert the cancer-causing chromium 6 into its benign relative, chromium 3, could cause the release of manganese, arsenic and iron into the groundwater.

Irrigation might also unlock naturally occurring uranium, releasing another carcinogen into the water supply.

Other alternatives, irrigation or water injection, could cause a temporary "bulge" in the plume, bringing contamination to a new area.

The drawdown of groundwater, which would result from several of the methods recommended for remediation, could result in the permanent reduction of the Hinkley aquifer's storage capacity.

The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board held a public hearing on the draft environmental impact report on Wednesday to determine which options the Hinkley community wants.

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