Not Going Away
People living within a five-mile radius of a new asphalt plant in the Quonset Business Park have filed dozens of complaints with the state – saying eye-watering odors that began in December have returned with a vengeance as spring has turned into the stifling dog days of summer. And just this week: The Department of Environmental Management has stepped in.
NORTH KINGSTOWN – The Department of Environmental Management has fined a new asphalt plant in the Quonset Business Park $8,500 – and ordered it to come up with an odor mitigation plan within 60 days.
The administrative action comes in response to people living within a five-mile radius of the plant filing dozens of complaints with DEM – saying eye-watering odors that began in December have returned with a vengeance as spring has turned into the stifling dog days of summer.
“The smell was so bad one morning, I had everyone in the neighborhood texting me,” said Vanessa Mascaro, who lives less than a mile north of the plant. “It woke everyone up. It infiltrated the house because you have the windows open.”
Described as an “asphalt transloading facility, the operation is owned by the Canadian-based company Bitumar - and managed by Ponderosa Solutions, headquartered in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.
On Wednesday, the Department of Environmental Management sent Bitmuar a nine-page notice of violation – pinning the odors that violate state air quality standards, on the plant. DEM levied a $8,500 fine, classifying it as a major violation that carries a $10,00 maximum penalty.
According to the notice, DEM says it received 168 complaints of "strong asphalt fumes" between March 26 and July 15. It dispatched an investigator to the area early on July 8. “The objectionable odors were observed during the time periods of 5:35 to 5:48 a.m. and 6:44 to 6:50 during the inspection,” the notice says. “And the odors were so strong that it caused the inspector to feel nauseous, cough, and return to the car to avoid odors.”
The state is giving Bitumar 60 days to devise an odor mitigation plan. DEM also found in its investigation that the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s office revoked Bitumar’s organization/registration on Dec. 30, 2020. The company had been in compliance from 2013 until the lapse six years ago.
After learning about the state’s notice of violation on Thursday morning, Quonset Development Corporation CEO Steve J. King told The Hummel Report: “Bitumar’s licensing agreement in West Davisville clearly requires the company to be in compliance with all state laws and regulations. If the company fails to meet this standard, they have 10 days to do so before triggering the non-compliance provisions of the license with QDC.
“DEM’s notice of violation provides the first actionable finding regarding the Bitumar facility,” King added. “Upon receipt of a copy of the NOV from DEM, Quonset will immediately demand that Bitumar comply with state regulations within 10 days of receipt of QDC’s letter.”
The Hummel Report first reported on the odors in an investigation published in February in The Providence Journal. Mascaro and her neighbor, Alyssa Knapp, told us the pungent odors began shortly after Bitumar began operations late last fall, then subsided when the plant closed for the winter.
But the last few months have brought strong southern winds that have carried fumes to homes miles from the plant.
Heather and Josh Oleson, who live half a mile north of the new plant, say the fumes have ruined their quality of life.
“It is pure chemicals. I have asthma, it is so strong that it takes my breath away. It’s awful,” said Heather Oleson, who has non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma and has lived with her husband in their home half a mile north of Bitumar since 2001.
“We have a huge porch that runs the whole length of our house. And we enjoy spending time outside. Our kids come here to spend time. We have a pool in our yard and we’re unable to do that a lot of times because of the smell and how awful it is,” Oleson said.
A lawyer for Bitumar has questioned whether the smells are coming from another asphalt plant half a mile to the east of its plant, or some paving of nearby local roads. The Olesons say they don’t need an analysis to know where the odors are coming from.
“One hundred percent it’s coming from Bitumar,” said Heather Olseon, noting the other plant in Quonset has been operating since 2017 and caused no problems and nearby paving finished long ago.
In 2017 The Hummel Report chronicled Thomas Miozzi moving his asphalt plant, located adjacent to a residential neighborhood in Coventry, 15 miles south into the Quonset Business Park. That allowed him to operate 24 hours a day, away from homes. Miozzi sold the plant three years ago to Peckham Industries.
“Four in the morning you get the smell and it lasts until about 8,” said Josh Oleson. “Sometimes you go out at night, 10:30 or 11 and the smell is there again. You can’t keep your windows open when it’s nice outside because you never know if the fumes and smell are going to be in your house.”
In response to the complaints, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management set up an online portal, which has been flooded with complaints.
DEM Director Terence Gray wrote North Kingstown Town Manager Ralph Mollis July 2, saying the department is conducting “regular unannounced trips through the impacted neighborhoods as well as in and around the Davisville industrial complex to investigate and directly document any odors experienced.”
Gray said the visits would be conducted outside normal business hours and as early as 4 or 5 a.m., when residents say the odors have been the strongest.
One Friday morning last month between 7:30 and around 8 o’clock, The Hummel Report observed a DEM employee walking the perimeter of the Bitumar plant on Compass Circle with a clipboard taking notes, then later parked outside Miozzi’s plant down the road.
The complaints from the online portal have been pointed. Donna Brown wrote on June 23: “I went out this morning at 6 a.m. to take my dog for a walk. Had to come home since the smell was unbearable. This has to stop. This is unacceptable. We cannot afford to move. This is happening way too often and interrupts my husband and my sleep all the time. What is this doing to our health?”
Another resident, Ukhee Kwon wrote on June 22: “Although we experience the smell frequently, I do not send an email every time. However this morning was so exceptionally terrible, I felt compelled to write. The intense smell of hot asphalt was so overpowering that I woke up with a severe headache and intense nausea.”
Although North Kingstown has no direct oversight since the Quonset Development Corporation is a quasi-public state agency covering a 3,200-acre park - complaints have flooded Town Hall.
Town Manager Ralph Mollis said is scheduled to meet Aug. 18 with representatives from Bitumar, two North Kingstown council members, the town’s legal counsel - and has invited the QDC’s King to attend as well.
Mollis said the only contact he has had with Bitumar so far has been through Providence attorney Jennifer, a former chairwoman of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council.
Cervenka wrote the town on June 4, then again on July 1, saying the company had implemented an odor control management plan. “Bitumar has elected to purchase certain engineered vapor-control equipment for installation at select portions of the facility.”
The Hummel Report spoke with an asphalt industry expert who said one option that Bitumar has is to install a “blue smoke capture system” that looks like a car wash and would enclose the liquid asphalt being transferred into waiting trucks.
We observed – and smelled – vapors the morning of July 24 during the transfer process. The liquid asphalt, which is heated to about 300 degrees, is transported by tanker to a hot mix plant, where sand and stone are added before the mix is ready to be sent out to paving crews.
In response to an email, Bitumar responded with a written statement: “We appreciate your interest; however, we will not be providing interviews or substantive comment at this time. We are actively engaged in discussions with several different authorities. We believe it is important to respect that process and will comment when appropriate.”
This is not the only complaint QDC has gotten this year. Shortly after the asphalt issue became public, residents learned about a proposed sewage sludge processing facility in the park and another large-scale plant that would store lithium-ion batteries. Residents, with the support of local and state politicians, successfully killed – for now – the sludge facility, and signs have popped up in various neighborhoods opposing the three projects.
Heather Olseon took exception to Gov. McKee coming to a town council meeting to oppose the sludge plant. She said the governor showed up for the last 10 minutes of the meeting and said he was going to stop it.
“McKee can’t answer one question,” Oleson said. “He said, ‘Well up in Cumberland.’ I don’t care about Cumberland. We live in North Kingstown.”
She also wants to know why representatives from Bitumar and the QDC never attend council meetings. “(QDC does) so much sneaky stuff,” she said. “They change meeting dates when they know people are going to come and question them. They won’t show up and answer any questions.”
The Hummel Report discovered during its reporting earlier this year that Bitumar wanted to locate the asphalt plant near the water, but Quonset did not have the infrastructure. Residents questioned why QDC would allow it to be located so close to a neighborhood.
“I can’t believe that it got as far as it did without us knowing,” Heather Oleson said. “Because if I had any inclination that they were going to put that over there where they did, we would have said something a long time ago.”
Mollis is trying to strike a balance between being responsive to his constituents and keeping good relations with QDC, which brings a boost to the local economy and, up until recently, had mostly good relations with the neighbors.
“We can’t judge an entity like QDC based on their last mistake,” Mollis said. “They have given a lot to Rhode Island and North Kingstown. Tax revenue, good businesses and good employees. They have been good neighbors for a long, long time. At the same time, I think these last few projects have been questionable. What we question is this really the type of projects we want in Quonset?” Mollis added.
Alyssa Knapp said she knows people who are at their breaking point. “Some are thinking of relocating,” she said. “It’s really, really sad. I hate to say we’re in that camp. To be honest we’re very concerned about where we’re going to go and if we’ll have to deal with the same issues in another town.
“We don’t want to downgrade. We’ve poured everything into this house for the last 11 years, we don’t want to sell and move into something worse or smaller,” Knapp said.
Heather Oleson agreed, saying she’s been fighting cancer for three years. “People say sell your house. Why should I have to sell my house when I’ve lived here for 24 years? I’m perfectly happy with my house. We weren’t ever, ever notified this was happening. It was all brushed under the rug.”
King, from QDC, said: “As it has for decades, Quonset will continue to be vigilant in working with state officials to ensure that all regulations are followed. While Quonset is the state’s leading economic engine, it will also continue to act in a way that insures that the broader public good is served.”
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