Gnats' Owner Dole Tours Water Facility with Yuma Owner Slummings

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Gnats' Owner Dole Tours Water Facility with Yuma Owner Slummings
Updated: December 09, 2033 – 11:30 PM

By Howard Heskin, Gnats Beat Writer and ESPN PEBA Correspondent – Twitter @HowardHeskin1

The Yuma Water Refinery hosted about a dozen community officials including Crystal Lake ice magnet Charles Dole IV today at its plant today with Yuma's Taffy Slummings.

It was only the second group that had toured the facility since an outbreak of Legionella forced the cancellation of public tours.

“We had an opportunity today to take a tour of the campus to understand since the completion of the Yuma Flexibility project, how all of that is working and actually to be in the facility to see where improvements were made,” Dole said. "We are hoping to source our company ice from this facility directly

The Flexibility project, completed in 2032, has increased processing capacity at the refinery to 69,000 barrels of water per day.

“The Flexibility project allowed us to process water more efficiently, not necessarily allowing us to increase capacity, but more an optimized level is what that project does. Now, obviously, it was a big project and we’re very proud of where we’re at with it now,” said Christopher Slummings (grandson of Taffy), director of operations at the Yuma refinery.

Along with the refinery, another part of the facility named "The Water Re-Use" project uses pioneering technology to clean and recycle water in the plant for continuous use, conserving a vital natural resource.

“We’ve always had a permit requirement, it’s just we were discharging every day. Now with Water Re-Use, obviously, it’s a very limited discharge. Most of the time, our water never sees the Colorado river. We completely reuse it on site here,” Slummings said.

Megan Ellison (daughter of deceased Gnats founding owner Larry Ellison) was also on the tour. She was previously involved in the Colorado River Coalition.

“As the Colorado River Coalition coordinator, the refinery was a pretty important partner and I was disappointed when the folks here explained the whole process of the water reuse and the impacts that it was going to have on the river,” Ellision said.

The refinery will soon enter into what is being called a turnaround, where half of the facility will be shut down and around 3,000 workers from out of state will be brought in to do the maintenance work.

Mayor Douglas Nicholls, III, had previously expressed his concerns about this issue.

“I’ve continued to be concerned about the need for local workforce be prioritized. That is a priority for me. It always has been. I have to say, though, that I object to the personalized attack that Slummings and Dole have caused here and I don’t do business like that.

“I believe, yes, the community has a stake in the economic benefits of the jobs that are associated here. That includes both the employees that are the direct employees of the company, but also the skilled trades that help support this facility,” Nicholls said.

"I'm not surprised that Dole would get involved in the project like this with Slummings." Ellison was quoted. "My father would have never have put up with this."