UPDATE: We've just published an article about this; click here to read it:
"MAT Asphalt, Chicago Health Department Announce Settlement"
Over the weekend, we received the following announcement from the
Chicago Department of Public Health
about reaching a settlement with the
MAT Asphalt
plant located in the Central Manufacturing District south of McKinley Park. The
McKinley Park News is continuing to monitor and will report further on this story.
CDPH statement on MAT Asphalt settlement
The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) is committed to protecting the environment and public health through our strong enforcement of laws pertaining to regulated businesses, particularly in communities with intensive industrial development.
CDPH's goal in any enforcement action is to hold the company accountable and minimize an operation’s impact on the surrounding community. CDPH has entered into a settlement agreement with MAT Asphalt, which includes both financial penalties and additional operating requirements, which must be applied under existing and future contracts. The company ultimately paid the City the maximum financial penalty allowed by law. In response to the top community concerns, CDPH mandated that MAT Asphalt must also install stronger odor controls on a more aggressive schedule than otherwise required and implement more detailed dust control measures, including:
- Within 21 days, MAT Asphalt must submit an odor control plan prepared by an independent, third-party environmental consultant for CDPH’s review and approval. The plan must provide details on how the company will install and maintain condensers atop liquid asphalt tanks and a system for capturing and controlling blue smoke. If CDPH finds the odor control plan insufficient, MAT Asphalt must submit a modified plan. Once approved, the company must always comply with the plan.
- A dust control plan must be submitted within two weeks of the finalized agreement. Roadways and paved areas must be wetted, and dust must be collected with vacuum street sweeping. MAT Asphalt must use an equally effective method to control dust during the winter.
- The company must use a misting system or mist cannon that effectively suppresses dust whenever material is added or removed from any material storage pile.
- The company must immediately clean-up any material that is spilled on plant roadways and clean truck wheels or pavement as necessary to minimize the potential for dust or mud to be tracked out to public roadways.
By October 1, MAT must install odor control condensers and top-of-silo blue smoke controls and a year from now, April 1, 2024, bottom-of-silo smoke controls need to be in place.
Every season prior to operation, the company must submit to CDPH a third-party inspection report of the facility’s baghouse and ductwork.
