State environmental officials told a riled-up crowd of Greenpoint residents that an asphalt recycling facility would face a fine and a legally binding order to mitigate the “acrid” and unhealthy fumes residents say they’ve been subjected to for years.
Residents have complained of odors at the Green Asphalt facility in Long Island City for more than a decade, but over the past two years, the complaints have reached a crescendo.
More than 150 people packed the basement auditorium of the Polish Slavic Center on Java Street in Greenpoint on Tuesday night saying they’ve reached their limit on the “acrid stench,” and health effects that include burning eyes, difficulty breathing, coughing, and headaches on their streets and in their homes.
“ Every time we go outside our eyes tear, our mouths taste your plant and our lungs hurt,” said local resident Tom Mituzas. “We know where it's coming from.”
Officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation told Greenpoint and Blissville residents that the facility signed a consent order on Tuesday that includes doubling the smokestack's height to 90 feet by Dec. 11 and a $124,000 fine.
Recycling asphalt is considered a sustainable practice that reduces carbon emissions and prevents the use of landfills. At least 30% of city streets use recycled asphalt, which costs about 20% less than standard pavement. Green Asphalt, the city's only 100% recycled facility, produces 100,000 tons of reused pavement annually with a revenue of about $10 million.
Green Asphalt was represented at the meeting by founder Michael Capasso and Head of Business Development Jim McMurray. They suggested that a lot of the complaints registered by locals may have been exaggerated. They said 7% of the complaints were made on days when the plant wasn’t operating and a quarter of the complaints were made on days after social media posts instructed residents to complain. They added that a quarter of complaints were made on days when the transportation department was laying fresh asphalt in the area.
”We are not here to challenge what you're feeling. We're here to work with you,” McMurray said. “Whatever you are feeling, you're put at ease to know we're not killing you. My children have been to the asphalt plant. They've been on paving jobs.”
The process of recycling asphalt can contribute to air pollution such as heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbons, according to a study released earlier this year. According to New Jersey's Department of Health, many of the symptoms residents are experiencing, including migraines and itchy throats, are linked to these emissions.
The emissions can be managed effectively with filters and modifications to the recycling process.
The state DEC and Green Asphalt told residents that the facility is fully compliant with the law.
Residents fired back, expressing their dissatisfaction with the resolution and demanding air monitoring information about what is emitted from Green Asphalt’s stack right now. State regulators told residents that the information required a formal request, but agreed to share the data with Gallagher’s office.
“We were gaslit by Green Asphalt. He [Capasso] is trying to tell us that our complaints were not well-founded.” said Lauren Clark, a Greenpoint parent. “He [McMurray] was dismissive and I don't want to talk about it in terms of smells. I want to talk about it in terms of a real legitimate public health issue.”
Green Asphalt officials said during the hearing they are confident that their remediation work can be accomplished within 90 days. McMurray said within a couple of weeks engineering consultants will finish the design to raise the stack, and submit it to the city’s buildings department for approval. They anticipate the permit review process will take another two weeks. After approval, they expect the work will take about three weeks. After the stack is complete, Green Asphalt will test for 25 different contaminants, as directed by the DEC.
“ We strongly feel that getting through the compliance schedule and the consent order will get us to a place where Green Asphalt and the community can coexist in a way that is healthy and protective of the community's health,” said DEC Regional Director Antonia Pereira. ”We have the database [of complaints] if we need to bring a lawsuit to support our position.”
Local elected officials, organizations and residents said they are growing impatient with DEC and Green Asphalt and are considering legal action. Residents floated the idea of a pressuring city agencies that contract with Green Asphalt to boycott the facility's product.
“ I think that Green Asphalt's full of s---, and I think that this is a problem,” said Kevin LaCherra, a fourth-generation East Greenpoint resident. “ They [Green Asphalt] have the nerve to come up here and tell us they don't think the smell is that bad. They have excuses about the complaints, and we have a room full of 150 people who have experience every morning with the way that it smells when they're taking their kids to school.”
Green Asphalt is at a location zoned for heavy industrial use, which is why the site was chosen. Greenpoint, under New York state climate law, is considered a disadvantaged community because the neighborhood has been overburdened with environmental issues including superfund sites and heavy industrial use. While Greenpoint has a long history as a residential community, its population has increased over the last two decades as a result of increased rezoning of commercial tracts to residential.
