By Joe Hirsch
News@Huntspointexpress.com
State officials are promising new regulations in an effort to get the fertilizer plant on Oak Point Avenue to curb the sickening odors that have had residents gagging and complaining for years.
If the NYOFCo, the New York Organic Fertilizer Company, continues to foul the air, it will be hit with stiff fines, the state Department of Environmental Conservation told a skeptical and boisterous crowd of about a hundred residents at a public forum on July 24.
Expressing skepticism about the willingness of the company to clean up its act, residents called for severe sanctions or even a shutdown of the plant, to which half of all the sewage in New York City is trucked to be turned into fertilizer pellets.
DEC officials insisted that Albany is now committed to getting the long-lingering stench out of the Hunts Point air.
“This is a new administration, and we have a new dedication,” said Suzanne Mattei, who left her job as executive director of the Sierra Club in June to become the regional director of the DEC office that oversees New York City. “This is genuinely a stepped-up effort. We are going to make a significant difference, I am convinced of that.”
The forum at the Point Community Development Corporation on Garrison Avenue kicked off a 30-day period in which members of the public can comment on the DEC’s proposed revisions to NYOFCo’s solid waste management permit.
The DEC is also reviewing NYOFCo’s application for renewal of an air permit, and says it will make those revisions available for formal public hearings in August, before submitting them to the federal Environmental Protection Agency for review in late September or early October.
But the exasperation of some local residents was difficult to contain.
“When NYOFCo’s vents are directed the wrong way, our children from PS 48 have to be brought in because the smell is horrible,” said Eva Sanjurjo, who runs a local daycare center.
“We’ve had nurses come in to help our children, and they have to leave because they have asthma,” she said, adding that the nurses had never had asthma before.
Lifelong resident Lucretia Jones, one of 10 residents who filed suit against the city and NYOFCo in June, complained that her elderly parents are forced to remain indoors with the air conditioner running at all times because of the overpowering smell. Jones said she has raised two asthmatic children, and attributes their illness, as well, to NYOFCo’s emissions. The smell from the plant also prevents her from using her own backyard, she added.
“This is environmental racism,” Jones said. “It could not happen in another community.”
Mattei said the only useful strategy is to “stop the odors before they start, and put controls on those functions.”
Her agency, she said would call for improved odor abatement devices and improved plant operation and training. It would also call for a staff member to monitor odors, in addition to a new mechanical monitoring system that would allow for a quicker response time.
But despite these assurances, residents doubted NYOFCo’s credibility, and wondered how realistic it is to expect the company to monitor itself.
“It seems to me there’s wiggle room if we say we recommend something,” said resident Maria Harper. “Because of time constraints or budget, it may be business as usual.”
The measures would be mandatory, Mattei responded, and the company would face escalating fines if it failed to comply.
“NYOFCo has made us sick,” Eva Sanjurjo said, after hearing the state’s plans for enhanced monitoring and cleaning. “Now you’re telling me the drippings, the trucks, the wheels are not being cleaned. Couldn’t they have done this 10 years ago?”
“For nothing to have been done for all this time is totally unacceptable,” Jones agreed.
“People are tired of being human filters for the community,” said resident and housing advocate, Yolanda Gonzalez.
“Our children should not have to breathe foul air any longer,” said Rep. Jose Serrano, who delivered a statement of support through a spokesman.
Some residents suggested NYOFCo be shut down if it fails to comply with the new regulations. But the state officials said a permanent shutdown is not legally an option.
“The only way to effect change is through the pocketbook,” resident Blanca Ramirez said, adding she raised two children with asthma in the neighborhood. “A shutdown of the facility even for one day sends a message to the CEO: ‘Wait a minute, I have to start looking at these people here a bit differently.’”
A DEC lawyer for NYSEDC said a breakdown of odor control equipment could lead to a temporary shutdown, but added that revoking the facility’s permit would be a “very high standard to reach.”
Mattei aroused more skepticism when she said her agency and NYOFCo were still negotiating many details, including whom the new monitor would report to. Some residents expressed outrage at the possibility that the monitor could be a NYOFCo employee, accountable only to the company itself.
NYOFCo’s manager referred a call for comment to a New York public relations firm, which did not return a phone call.