Proposed asphalt plant move alarms some in Santa Fe
Residents say their concerns center around possible fumes and emissions
Some Santa Fe-area residents are concerned about the proposed move of an asphalt plant to a site a half-mile north of the intersection of N.M. 599 and Airport Road, where the company plans to operate 24 hours a day most of the year.
Associated Asphalt and Materials LLC submitted an application to the New Mexico Environment Department for a new state air quality permit for the operation Dec. 24. A 30-day public comment period on the request is set to end Thursday.
Scores of residents have reacted to the news — not only by submitting comments to the Environment Department but also reaching out to city of Santa Fe, Santa Fe County and other state government officials. Their concerns largely center on the effects of possible fumes and emissions from the plant.
But company officials say the change in the operation would actually lead to production of less asphalt and fewer emissions.
Matt Lane, an environmental specialist with Associated Asphalt, said it plans to move a south-side asphalt plant on Oliver Drive and consolidate it with a second plant the company operates at 86 Paseo de River.
“It’s a little misleading where it shows that this is a new construction, but this is actually just a new permit for two existing plants we have in Santa Fe and we’re just moving one of them,” Lane said.
The plants have operated in the city for more than two decades. Lane said the consolidation and new state air quality permit would allow both plants to produce asphalt at night. Currently, he said, only one plant is permitted to work all hours; the other is limited to daytime operations. “Since a lot of the paving jobs nowadays, for traffic control and other reasons, operate at night, we’re trying to operate the thing so we can use it,” Lane said.
Paul Wade of Montrose Air Quality Services LLC, which offered air quality modeling and consulting for Associated Asphalt, said the two plants will be lessening their emissions by using fewer trucks to transport asphalt between locations and following updated emissions rules.
“This is actually a decrease of emissions in the area and not an increase,” Wade said. “And this is an improvement to the existing permits that they have.”
The state Environment Department issued a notice saying it expects to issue the new air quality permit by March 19.
Maddy Hayden, a spokeswoman for the department, said a public hearing on the permit application will be held in early February at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center. The date and time will be announced ahead of the hearing, she said.
A post about the company’s permit application on the neighborhood social media site Nextdoor drew more than 100 comments, with residents from nearby communities such as Pueblos de Rodeo, La Resolana and La Cieneguilla expressing concerns about asphalt fumes.
One of those residents, Linda Marianiello, who has lived in Tierra Contenta for a decade, said she’s concerned not just about her own health but that of the community. “We want to find out what the prevailing wind patterns are throughout Santa Fe,” Marianiello said in an interview. “For example, we want to know if kids at school are going to be exposed to these kinds of pollutants when they’re on a playground.”
She cited a Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention report from 2001 that examined health concerns for workers exposed to asphalt when paving, roofing and mixing.
“I started doing research into what the specific health risks were, and they’re dire,” Marianiello said. “We’re talking about potential neurological damage, cancers, asthma.”
She has reached out to city councilors, the mayor, county commissioners and state representatives about the plant, she said.
Ruth Hamilton, who has lived with her husband in Tierra Contenta for seven years, said they have been affected by the asphalt operations already. “We can smell the asphalt when the windows are open,” she said. “I am always concerned about the particulate in the air that we don’t smell.”
Hamilton said she believes a 24/7 asphalt operation is unnecessary in Santa Fe.
“That’s necessary in large urban areas where blocking major commuter roadways affects hundreds of thousands of drivers,” Hamilton said. “That’s not a concern in our small city.”
Sara Smith, a constituent liaison for County Commissioner Anna Hansen, declined to comment on Hansen’s stance on the asphalt project. “The commissioners cannot speak about potential land uses that they might have to rule on,” Smith said.
She has referred everyone who has reached out to Hansen with concerns about the plant to the state Environment Department, Smith added
Not everyone is worried about the asphalt company’s relocation plans. William Mee, a longtime community activist for the village of Agua Fría, said he changed his mind about the plant after reading through the company’s air quality permit application and speaking with Lane and Wade. “I think I did my due diligence on this,” Mee said. “They’re moving out of more populated areas to north of N.M. 599, which might be a better deal.”