Protect The Sonoma Coast
Join us in the fight against waste incinerators threatening our coastline and our county.
Together, we can protect the stunning environment of Sonoma and ensure a healthier future.
Our Mission
Defending the Sonoma Coast from Toxic Waste Incineration
We are a community-driven movement dedicated to protecting the Sonoma Coast from the harmful impacts of waste-incinerating toilets. These devices release toxic pollutants — including dioxins, heavy metals, and PFAS “forever chemicals” — that threaten our air, soil, water, and coastal ecosystems.
Our mission is to educate the public, unite neighbors, and take action to ensure transparent, science-based environmental policy. Together, we stand for clean air, safe water, and a healthy future for all who call the Sonoma Coast home.
The Issue
Toxic Waste Incinerators Disguised as Toilets
These devices burn human waste at up to 1,600° F, generating a cocktail of airborne toxins nearly identical to those regulated under federal hazardous air pollutant programs. Once released, these poisons — including PFAS, mercury, and dioxins — settle into our soil, crops, and waterways, contaminating the very ecosystem that sustains us.
What’s worse: county officials have classified these as “ministerial” approvals, meaning no environmental review, no air-quality testing, and no public oversight.
Our Goals
How You Can Help
Our Legacy
Inspired by the “Hole in the Head Gang”
We stand in the proud tradition of the citizens who stopped the nuclear power plant at Bodega Head in the 1960s. They proved that ordinary people can protect extraordinary places. We are their descendants, following their playbook, updated for our time, to defend the Sonoma Coast from a new generation of industrial threats.
We will fight until Sonoma County is safe from reckless technological experiments masquerading as innovation. The same spirit that defeated the nuclear threat at Bodega Head now rises to defeat this toxic threat on our coast and in our county.
The Full Story
How Toxic Waste Incinerators Threaten the Sonoma Coast, and Why We're Taking a Stand
Our coastline has always been more than a view — it’s a living, breathing ecosystem that sustains farmers, fishermen, families, and wildlife. From Bodega Bay to Jenner, the Sonoma Coast is one of the most sensitive and ecologically significant regions in California. Yet today, it faces a new and unexpected threat: the quiet approval of waste-incinerating toilets — devices that burn human waste at temperatures up to 1,600° F.
County officials have allowed these high-heat combustion units to be installed under a “ministerial” classification, meaning they were treated like simple plumbing fixtures — no environmental review, no air-quality assessment, and no community input. But these are not ordinary appliances. They are small incinerators, and they release the same kinds of pollutants regulated under federal and state hazardous air programs.
When human waste is burned, it doesn’t simply disappear — it transforms into toxic emissions. These include:
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Dioxins and furans, among the most persistent and dangerous compounds known to science, linked to cancers and reproductive harm.
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PFAS “forever chemicals”, which never break down and accumulate in soil, water, and living tissue.
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Heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic — all hazardous to human and animal health.
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Fine particulates (PM₂.₅ and smaller) that carry these toxins deep into lungs and into agricultural soil.
These pollutants don’t stay contained. Once released, they travel through the air, settle onto crops, seep into groundwater, and wash into our creeks and ocean. Over time, they build up in fish, shellfish, and even dairy and produce. What starts as a “single installation” in one neighborhood quickly becomes a shared public health hazard for the entire coastal region.
A Legal and Ethical Failure
The County’s decision to approve these devices without public review violates the very spirit — and possibly the letter — of California’s environmental protection laws.
Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), projects that could affect air quality, water quality, or public health must undergo environmental assessment.
By labeling these incinerators as “ministerial,” officials sidestepped the requirement for environmental review — effectively shielding these approvals from public scrutiny.
We have asked county officials to disclose who made these decisions and what qualifications they have in combustion engineering, air-quality science, or toxicology to justify their determinations. So far, the silence has been alarming.
A Call to the Past — and the Future
This isn’t the first time the Sonoma Coast has faced a battle for its survival. In the early 1960s, local citizens known as the “Hole in the Head Gang” stopped PG&E’s plan to build a nuclear power plant at Bodega Head — a project that would have forever altered the coast and its communities. They stood up, organized, and won.
Today, we stand on their shoulders. We are their descendants — not just by blood, but by conviction. The tools have changed — petitions, emails, digital networks — but the mission remains the same: to protect this coast from harm, and to hold government accountable to science and public safety.
What We’re Fighting For
We’re not opposing progress — we’re defending common sense. No community should be forced to accept untested, high-emission devices in environmentally sensitive areas without proper review.
We’re fighting for:
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Transparent Government: decisions backed by science, not convenience.
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Safe Air and Clean Water: for residents, farms, and wildlife.
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Responsible Planning: so coastal communities aren’t treated as testing grounds for hazardous technology.
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Environmental Justice: ensuring rural residents have the same protections as urban ones.
Our Path Forward
We’ve launched this campaign to educate, unite, and act. We’re petitioning Sonoma County to immediately halt the approval of incinerator toilets until full environmental review is completed. We’re calling on Supervisor Lynda Hopkins and Permit Sonoma to reclassify these devices as high-heat combustion appliances, subject to air-quality and fire-safety regulations.
We are also reaching out to regional and state agencies — including the North Coast Air Quality District, the California Air Resources Board, and the California Coastal Commission — to ensure that the coast is not left undefended.
The Coast Belongs to All of Us
Our coastline is sacred — ecologically, culturally, and historically. We owe it to the generations before us and those yet to come to protect it from harm. Once toxins enter the air and soil, they cannot be taken back.
This is our moment to stand together, to say no to incineration and yes to preservation.
Join us. Sign the petition. Speak out. Protect the Sonoma Coast — because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
