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Don't take asphalt plant lightly CATHERINE WRIGHT Columnist When I heard there was talk about an asphalt plant being sited in Hillsborough, I immediately thought of the smell. My husband thought of property values. So I find it interesting that a Durham real estate appraiser told a Hillsborough board last week that the market here would accept an asphalt plant and that people would be willing to live and work near one. My guess is that the eight people who spoke against the proposed plant at the Hillsborough Board of Adjustment meeting don't want to live or work near one. I know I don't, and I imagine there are a good many more people who would say the same. The plant, which would produce about 45,000 tons of asphalt per year and 16 round trips by trucks per day, is proposed for about 5 acres on Valley Forge Road. That's near the intersection of N.C. 86 and U.S. 70-A, one of the entranceways to Hillsborough. Anybody who's passed by roadwork with his car windows down knows that wafts of asphalt are just the type of welcome we want for visitors to this small town. Oh, but wait, a Chapel Hill engineer says something would be used in the manufacturing of this petroleum derivative to eliminate any smell. That's great - mask the smell and all those potentially harmful elements released into the air will just go away. Frankly, I'd like to know that more than the odor is removed. I'd like to know that no carcinogens are released into the air or surrounding bodies of water. While researching asphalt on the Internet, I found a link from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to a fact sheet released by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. It details the hazards of asphalt fumes, which include irritation to the nose, throat, lungs and skin, and it notes that the fumes contain carcinogens. At the bottom of the fact sheet are questions and answers. Among the questions posed is this one: Is the risk of getting sick higher for workers than for community residents? The answer posted is yes. Exposures in the community, except possibly in cases of fires or spills, are usually much lower than those found in the workplace. However, people in the community may be exposed to contaminated water as well as to chemicals in the air over long periods. This may be a problem for children or people who are already ill. Town Attorney Bob Hornik has said the proposal should be turned down if the Board of Adjustment finds enough evidence that the plant would be a nuisance. It seems the board is taking this proposal seriously as it voted to delay a decision following the more than three-hour hearing Friday. The board member who motioned to continue the hearing - Larry Carroll - said: "Before I could ever vote for something like this, I would have to go and see for myself." And it seems he intends to as he asked for the phone numbers and addresses of similar nearby plants. I'm glad to see this initiative taken, and I hope that when he - and surely other board members - makes trips to these plants that time is taken to also question the neighbors. Meanwhile, if you would like to offer some input to the board, do it now or plan on attending the board's next meeting, March 12, when it will take up the proposal again. Readers may e-mail Catherine Wright at chh@heraldsun.com or write to her c/o The Chapel Hill Herald, 106 Mallette St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516. |
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