The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently ordered a Neville Island-based metal scrap facility that’s long been the subject of local residents and environmental advocacy organizations’ air quality complaints to reduce emissions and limit its hours of operations.
The news was first reported by WESA’s Reid Frazier. Here’s an excerpt from his Feb. 8 story:
Neighbors have reported periodic explosions and fires at the plant, which boasts on its website of shredding 6,000 cars a month.
The shredding can result in fires and smoke because the cars may still have fuel and other flammable material in them, Taranto said. As a result, residents have complained about smoke, sound, and the smell of burning plastic.
“It’s been extremely disruptive, particularly for those that are right close to the river,” (Angelo Taranto, of Allegheny County Citizens for Clean Air Now, or ACCAN) said. “It makes people sick. They have to close up their houses in the summer. They can’t let their children out when the odor and the smoke is heavy.”
The EPA consent order limits the company to operating for a maximum of 10 hours per day, or eight hours during an air quality action day, when pollution levels in the region are forecast to exceed federal health standards.
It also sets production limits for the scrap shredding at the plant of no more than 120 tons per hour, or 240,000 tons per year. The order set a limit on air pollution of no more than 50 tons per year of volatile organic compounds, airborne chemicals that form smog. And it sets additional reporting requirements for the plant.
We encourage folks to read Mr. Frazier’s full report here and be sure to follow our friends at ACCAN for more information and action items related to this issue. ACCAN has been leading the charge to demand action on Metalico for years.
You can read the EPA’s administrative order here.