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Residents say they have environmental and health concerns about a proposed plastics facility in The Plains
By: David Forster
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Several area residents told county commissioners Tuesday morning they are concerned about the potential environmental impacts if a plastics manufacturer sets up shop in The Plains.
CCC Plastics, a Canadian company, is in negotiations to lease an industrial building owned by the Athens County Port Authority. CCC would use the space to produce plastic pellets, which would then be used by other businesses to make plastic products. This would be CCC’s first U.S. operation.
Plastics contain many compounds that are harmful to the environment and human health at certain exposure levels.
Fitzgerald said she’s had many conversations with CCC officials and feels confident “they’ll be a very responsible tenant with minimal environmental and health impacts — no environmental health impact.”
Several residents who showed up for the meeting said they were not convinced and wanted Fitzgerald to press the company for more details about its operations and any contaminants it might produce.
Fitzgerald shared with the commissioners and the audience a list of answers from the Port Authority to questions already raised about CCC’s proposed operation in The Plains.
CCC will use the facility to blend resins with pigments and additives to create extruded plastic pellets. Concerned residents at Tuesday’s meetings said they want a list of all chemicals and chemical compounds that will be used in this process.
The Port Authority says there will be very few byproducts from this operation, mostly oil from machinery, dust from grinding resins and cutting pellets, and packaging waste. No flammable liquids, corrosives, solvents, oxidizers or regulated bulk chemicals would be used or stored on site. CCC will use only solid, non-volatile materials that are generally stable under normal storage and handling.
CCC will not use any chemicals at the site that, if spilled, would require emergency management response or notification of residents for safety reasons, according to the Port Authority. Any hazardous waste, mostly oil from machinery, would be collected in sealed containers and removed by a licensed waste hauler.
Concerned residents want to know about any possible air emissions and how these will be controlled if they are harmful. They also want to know the composition of any hazardous waste generated by the facility and where it will be taken for disposal.
Water usage is another concern. The Port Authority says the facility would consume no more water than what is already available through existing supply lines. Water discharged from the facility would not have any special treatment beyond the standard treatment for all wastewater by the county water and sewer district.
Concerned residents want to know what chemicals used by the plant could end up in its wastewater and whether the county treatment plant will be able to prevent these chemicals from ending up in the Hocking River.
Fitzgerald said she would try to get answers to these more detailed questions.
Some residents at the meeting said they don’t trust CCC to be entirely forthcoming about the potential impacts of its operations and would like some kind of independent third-party review of the proposed operations and their potential impacts.
“I don’t as a person who lives in this community — we don’t trust companies. They’ve lied to us historically in this region,” said one resident.
Fitzgerald said there are no plans for a third-party review. She said the company will be subject to oversight from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
This did not satisfy some residents who believe these agencies may not be aggressive enough in their enforcement and noted that some of the chemicals used may not be regulated under state or federal law.
Residents said they would like to see the company’s assurances about environmental and health safety become part of the lease agreement so it can be held accountable.
Fitzgerald also addressed why a large Canadian company would be looking at southeast Ohio for its first expansion into the U.S. She said it’s an eight-hour drive to the company’s corporate headquarters in Toronto, and the proximity to Columbus provides the company with a close access point to multiple markets.
She also noted that the space in The Plains offers room for expansion, which is attractive to the company. The current 60,000-square-foot footprint can easily be doubled in size.
The public will have another opportunity to weigh in on the CCC proposal at the Port Authority’s next meeting, scheduled for July 15 at 1 p.m. at the Ohio University Innovation Center on West State Street.