By DAVID A. MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com
JEFFERSONVILLE —
Questions and concerns gushed Thursday night from an audience upset with the living conditions in their neighborhood brought on by odor, soot and dust they attribute to the nearby Mac Construction and Excavating asphalt plant.
One woman asked about the burning she felt in her eyes, throat and ears. Another asked how the soot caked onto the side of her mobile home factored into environmental enforcement. Some questions were technical: What qualifies as fugitive dust emissions?
However, after more than two hours of discussion and explanations of policy, procedure and particulate emissions, representatives from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management crystalized some points repeatedly and sometimes to the chagrin of the plant’s foes: An Indianapolis-based environmental agency has no authority to enforce Jeffersonville’s zoning laws; and regulators have no discretion on whether to renew a permit so long as a company is complying with measurable federal and state regulations.
The meeting was held as the department is considering renewing the much-maligned plant’s permit. No action was taken but residents were given a chance to comment and ask questions about the process and enforcement.
The plant, on Quarry Road in Jeffersonville, operates inside Hanson’s quarry, which is just outside of the Jefferson Court neighborhood. Residents from that neighborhood and surrounding areas have complained the plant has made people sick. They’ve also charged it’s out of compliance with zoning regulations and that a hearing on its construction was never held. A lawsuit has been filed against Mac Construction and the city of Jeffersonville as a result.
Holding up an inches-thick binder that outlined state environmental enforcement policy, IDEM Technical Environmental Specialist Doug Wagner told the crowd “These are the rules that we go by.
“These rules, passed by the air pollution control board, set out what we can consider” when deciding on whether or not to renew a permit. “You probably don’t want your zoning done in Indianapolis.”
Resident J. Bruce “Corky” Scales argued that by that logic, the department would have no problem issuing a permit to a plant that sat completely surrounded by residential property.
Wagner countered that the air pollution laws on the books take into account that there are residential areas everywhere.
One question that seem to repeatedly come up was in regards to what qualifies as fugitive dust emission, which is not allowed under Mac’s permit. Wagner explained that such emissions occur when dust leavs Mac’s property at the ground level.
Resident Pat Barrow, who’s led much of the protest against the plant, said she believed such emissions have occurred on a regular basis. Wagner noted that the region’s air quality inspector has been called to the plant and the neighborhood 13 times in the last 12 months to investigate such claims with no results.
“For an inspector — for one source — that’s a lot of visits,” Wagner said.
“This is what we’ve been dealing with day in and day out,” Barrow said back. “Maybe he can’t get down there [in time to see it.] Does that mean we suffer?”
Monitoring of the ambient air quality in the area was also discussed. Robert Hall, a Cardinal Lane resident, asked whether the department should be relying on an air quality monitor that’s more than a mile away from the asphalt plant. The monitor isn’t there just to measure Mac’s emissions.
IDEM branch said chief Mathew Stuckey some communities have to rely on monitors that are even further away. And Wagner noted that the department takes regular comment on where monitors are placed.
“I always hear ‘We’re here to protect you guys,’ but it doesn’t feel like we get any protection,” said Hall.
Stuckey said despite residents’ problems with local zoning officials on where the plant is placed, the department can only go by its test of stack emissions and monitor readings.
“That’s where IDEM’s authority stops,” he said.
The question of how the plant was allowed to be built so close to residential areas is one continually brought up by those who oppose it. Barrow and others have characterized it as a decision made solely by former Planning Director Chester Hicks, during former Mayor Rob Waiz’s administration.
“It’s up to our local government,” Scales stood up and declared. “This local game in the city of Jeffersonville is a joke.”
Chad Unruh, vice president of Mac Construction, was present at the meeting but declined to comment when approached by a reporter.
Jeffersonville City Councilman Nathan Samuel said he understood the frustration and noted he was glad to hear that the plant was in compliance with federal and state standards.
However, he said, he didn’t feel it was appropriate or his right to exert control over the plant considering that a city official with the statutory authority granted Mac permission to operate there.
“That would mean we change the rules in the middle of the game,” he said.
