Latest news with #GreenAsphalt
CBS News
24-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Queens residents say they can't stand foul odor from nearby asphalt facility
NEW YORK - For 94 years, Queens resident Florence Michalski has been a fixture on the corner of Long Island City known as Blissville. But lately, she's had to pack up and stay with relatives. "The smell is terrible. You can't go out," she said. She says an acrid stench, like burning tires, billows from Green Asphalt's nearby asphalt recycling plant. "Your eyes tear. You think you're crying all the time," she said. Blissville residents say the odor kicks in early in the morning when the equipment powers on. "The taste goes right onto your tongue. It's horrible," Charles Romer said. "We already live up the block from Newtown Creek, which is a superfund site. Then, you add this into the mix," Warren Davis said. "That's concerning, of course, for myself, concerning for our neighbors." Green Asphalt says it's working to address complaints Green Asphalt declined to be interviewed, writing in a statement to CBS News New York: "Green Asphalt has been in compliance with the air requirements set forth by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) since we were first permitted in 2017. We have been working diligently to address any odor complaints. Green Asphalt's goal is to remain in good standing with the community as we have over the last 14 years, and we continue to engage with local stakeholders in Greenpoint and Long Island City to resolve this as soon as possible." The DEC said it issued an air pollution violation to Green Asphalt in January of 2024. Newtown Creek Alliance executive director Willis Elkins says, though its environmental mission is noble, the company must address adverse impacts. "They're doing 100 percent recycled asphalt, which is better than the city standard," he said. "We're just trying to fight for some basic air quality improvements and protection of human health." Asphalt fumes can cause health problems from a cough to skin cancer, according to the US Department of Labor. Lawmakers call on company to "be a better neighbor" Now, lawmakers are calling for a temporary closure, insisting Green Asphalt has failed to make meaningful change. Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Senator Michael Gianaris, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, Assemblymember Claire Valdez, Councilmember Lincoln Restler, and Councilmember Julie Won said in a joint statement: "Green Asphalt committed to increasing the height of the emissions stack and redirecting emissions away from our residential community by June, but they have failed to do so. Emissions from Green Asphalt are impacting the health and safety of Greenpoint and Blissville residents alike. We demand Green Asphalt be a better neighbor. While we appreciate the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's Wednesday letter requiring the company to double the height of the emissions stack as soon as they have the necessary approval and not later than year's end, we are pushing for DEC to take more aggressive action by requiring Green Asphalt shut down their operations until the modifications to the emission stack are completed." Neighbors say a shutdown is long overdue. "We're not going to let Green Asphalt put us in the grave," Tom Mituzas said. You can email Elle with Queens story ideas by CLICKING HERE.
New York Post
16-06-2025
- General
- New York Post
NYC recycling center crop dusting neighborhood with ‘choking' stink that has state fuming: ‘Literally gag'
A Long Island City asphalt recycling plant is spraying a 'choking' stink along the Newtown Creek — leaving state regulators fuming and residents plugging their noses. State regulators first raised a stink about the noxious fumes from Green Asphalt back in January 2024, when the company was accused of spewing emissions that 'unreasonably interfered with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property' in violation of the New York State Air Pollution Control Law. 7 New Yorkers living near Newtown Creek are calling on an asphalt recycling plant to stop releasing smelly, noxious fumes that 'choke' nearby residents. X / Blissville Civic Association 7 The Green Asphalt recycling plant on Railroad Avenue in Queens. Brigitte Stelzer But locals said take a whiff of the air along the Newtown Creek and the chemical odor has only gotten worse since then. 'At first it was a choking smell – I'm talking about how you would literally gag when you go outside,' said Tom Mituzas, a longtime resident of the Blissville section of the neighborhood and member of the Blissville Civic Organization. 'Your eyes would tear because the smokestacks are so low,' Mituzas said of the plant, which opened in 2011. 'The smoke would stay at street level, and you'd go out of your house and you'd breathe [fumes] in, and you'd just choke.' The resident told The Post he moved his 95-year-old aunt from her childhood home last summer because he was afraid 'she was going to die in the house' due to the fumes that seep indoors. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has continued to receive 'numerous' complaints about the odor — and its potential health effects, officials wrote in a letter to the plant Wednesday. 'The department has continued to regularly receive numerous community complaints and inquiries regarding both the odor emanating from the facility and potential human health implications associated with emissions from the facility,' the DEC wrote in a letter issued to the plant Wednesday. Regulators are now demanding the plant increase the height of its smokestacks from 45 feet to 90 feet by Dec. 11, its letter showed. The company will also have to test for air contaminants and an elemental analysis of the recycled asphalt materials it handles. 7 'Your eyes would tear because the smokestacks are so low. The smoke would stay at street level, and you'd go out of your house, and you'd breathe it in, and you'd just choke,' Mituzas said of the plant, which opened in 2011. Brigitte Stelzer 7 Blissville, Queens resident Tom Mituzas told The Post he had to evacuate his 95-year-old aunt out of her home last summer due to the smelly emissions. LinkedIn / Thomas J Mituzas A rep for Green Asphalt told The Post it has been 'working diligently to address any odor complaints' and strives to be in 'good standing with the community as we have over the last 14 years, and we continue to engage with local stakeholders in Greenpoint and Long Island City to resolve this as soon as possible.' Asphalt fumes can cause serious injury and permanent damage, including throat irritation, cough, fatigue and skin cancer, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 7 The Blissville Civic Association is calling on elected officials to help assuage the stinky fumes in Queens. 7 Billowing emissions from the Green Asphalt facility in Blissville, Queens. X / Blissville Civic Association 7 Council member Julie Won said she is advocating for air quality testing near the plant site. Stefan Jeremiah for New York Post Green Asphalt in Long Island City once touted a $50,0000 sub-contract with the DOT and has helped pave major Big Apple roadways like the Whitestone Expressway. It recycles asphalt to be used in city sustainability projects, and brands itself as the first 100% recycled asphalt plant in Gotham. The DOT stopped asphalt recycling operations with Green Asphalt 'around the time' the January 2024 violation was issued and has been waiting for a 'corrective plan before allowing operations to resume,' City Council member Julie Won's office told residents in an email shared with The Post. Won told The Post she and state pols are now working to make sure the DEC regularly tests air quality near the plant site, as well as enforces state environmental regulations 'appropriately to improve the situation.'
