By Joe Hirsch
news@huntspointexpress.com
While NYOFCo’s parent company calls the new requirements the state Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed “excessively burdensome,” The Point CDC and Sustainable South Bronx have called on the DEC to add new safeguards before issuing a permit to the fertilizer plant on Oak Point Avenue.
In a written submission, The Point criticized the DEC’s draft of a new permit for allowing NYOFCo to devise the odor management system, saying the company had failed repeatedly to live up to its promises in the past. Leaving the odor control plan to NYOFCo “asks the fox to guard the henhouse,” the letter charges.
The Point also calls for the independent monitor to be paid for by NYOFCo to be backed by 24/7 video monitoring to resolve disputes over whether the plant is causing the sickening odors that have plagued the area for decades.
Writing that “’inadequate odor control’ is not the only issue which needs to be addressed,” Sustainable South Bronx Executive Director Miquela Craytor focused her organization’s criticism on keeping waste from polluting waterways or exposing workers to toxic materials.
But an executive of Synagro Technologies, which owns NYOFCo contended that new permit requirements would cause unnecessary shutdowns of the plant. Synagro’s letter also called for a re-evaluation of the monitoring requirements after six months, with a view to making them less burdensome.