SUFFOCATING DILEMMA

Jersey Journal -- March 14

T he smell came wafting through K Sherbetdjian's Whiton Street bedroom as softly and as unwanted as a burglar tip-toeing across the floor, its pungent odor ripping him out of his peaceful sleep.

"I couldn't breathe," said Sherbetdjian, a five-year resident of the Lafayette section of Jersey City.

The familiar dank smell emanated from the large, smoldering piles of decomposing wood chips a few blocks away at the Reliable Wood Products facility, which makes mulch from the wooden pallets used in the shipping of materials for its neighboring paper recycling plant.

The controversial site has been the scene of at least 10 fires already this year, and the plant's suffocating smell has hundreds of residents in the nearby neighborhoods pleading for relief, including two who moved out because of the smell.

"It's a real problem. The smell is everywhere," said Angus Vail, a member of the Lafayette Neighborhood Action Committee, which recently sent a petition with 236 signatures to state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

The long-standing issue raises serious questions about the city's ability - and willingness - to deal with its industrial past as demand for residential development spreads.

The Reliable Wood facility sits within the Morris Canal Redevelopment Zone, first adopted by the City Council in 1999. The redevelopment plan accommodates the Reliable Paper Recycling plant, which was already there, as long as the operation continues to take place indoors.

After the adoption of the redevelopment plan, the company expanded its operations to include the mulch business and created Reliable Wood Products.

The outdoor expansion clearly runs afoul of the city's zoning regulations, but city officials say they can't enforce the rules because they lack jurisdiction over class B recycling centers, which are the province of the state.

However, that opinion has never been tested in court, and city officials are basing their lack of power on a letter from the DEP submitted by the company - and that letter deals with another plant in another town.

The owner of the plant, Nick Vene, refused to comment for this column.

City sources say they have not abdicated their responsibility, pointing to numerous fire code violations that have been issued. But residents deserve more than just a few inspections related to fire codes, since such violations ignore the quality-of-life issues that are at the center of the controversy.

The city needs to investigate the zoning problems and pursue violations under the state's Public Nuisance Act, which gives municipalities broad powers to abate these types of activities.

In fact, city officials can't even confirm whether the plant was ever issued a certificate of occupancy.

Perhaps the city can follow the lead of the state.

The DEP has leveled tens of thousands of dollars in fines for, among other things, odors, operating equipment without approved air pollution permits and expanding the facility without the required permits. But the state does not appear to have the authority to shut it down because of zoning violations.

The company is disputing the violations the state did issue and the matter is set to go before an administrative law judge, according to the DEP.

The Hudson County Health Commission has also issued a number of fines related to air pollution.

Tomorrow, officials from the city, county and state are expected to meet to compare notes and develop a strategy.

Perhaps they could also figure out who's in charge.

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Now that's some pullitzer class writin boy. And no byline? That first sentence grabs your attention by the lapels and shoves your face in the story "like a tarantula on a birthday cake", "like a fart in an elevator", "like the pimp on Easter morning", "like a puddle of puke on a PATH train seat", "like a Grove St. bum in a Brioni suit", "like a touch football game at Hamilton park", "like a, like a, like..... I can't think of any more likes. Can you? That's why I'm not pulling down the big bucks over at the JJ.

Last time I drove by that plant, I saw several DEP Agents in yellow jackets inspecting the place.

Two weeks ago there was a fire there I saw from the Turnpike.

There are huge piles of mulch (I mean 2-stories high) and you can smell the joint from the Turnpike.

I'd think with all the development going on there the days of the stinker should be numbered, but who knows.

next time that site catches on fire the city should just let it burn to the ground. Added bonus: no pre-construction demolition required for new condos.

So THIS is the source of the smell I talked about months ago!!

http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... t_id=39268#forumpost39268

it wasn't someone's 3-bean chili at all.

Seriously, though, I have a 10 month old kid and I don't want him breathing this. It is putrid.

It seems they are on shaky ground with their outdoor expansion and we need to take the next step to close that part down.

The dank smell may be coming from anaerobic bacteria in the mulch.

The chemicals released in the anaerobic process (and the fires) are not good, and may include "wood alcohol" (aka methyl alcohol, methanol), a highly toxic volatile compound.

Nobody should be forced to breathe stuff like this.

They need to be shut down. The affected residents should demand from the DEP a chemical analysis of air around the plant.

More on mulch toxicity, from the Clemson University website: http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC1604.htm Cornell University writes about it, too: http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/mulch/toxicmulch.html >>Sour or ?acid? mulch is caused by poor handling or storing of mulch resulting in anaerobic (without air) conditions. Mulch piles need to ?breathe? to prevent anaerobic conditions from occurring. In the absence of air, microbes in the mulch (mostly bacteria) produce toxic substances such as methanol, acetic acid, ammonia gas, and hydrogen sulfide gas.<< Particularly methanol and hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg odor) are real bad actors if you breathe them a lot (which the folks living close to Reliable Wood Products do). I think this issue is much more than a nuisance odor.

wow. i always thought that maybe they were smoking some stuff at the meat rendering plant

Ijust past through there, that smell is still there, it's horrible!!! if i lived there i would be knocking the doors down in city hell if it lasted for than a day.

I run at LSP often and wondered what that odor has been. It has been in the air for a while now. I assumed the wind, from time to time, would change and we get a sampling of Newark's industry. How wrong I was! The photo in the Jersey Journal of the smoke coming off those piles is an outrage. I would be picketing down there today!!!! There must be houses close by that can't even open there windows.

from JJ:

Hudson pol blasts DEP 'incompetence'
In a letter written to the state Commissioner of Environmental Protection, Assemblyman Louis Manzo, D-Jersey City, blasts the agency for failing to crack down a paper recycling plant that?s stinking up a section of Jersey City.

?I?m appalled by the lack of sensitivity and urgency of NJDEP to address an issue that is affecting a mostly minority community,? Manzo wrote to DEP Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson about the Reliable Paper Recycling located at 1 Caven Point Ave.

?If this issue were in a wealthier community in our state, I honestly feel NJDEP would respond differently ? as they have in the past,? Manzo stated.

Manzo added that NJDEP was either in ?collusion? with Reliable, or the ?the only explanation is utter incompetence.?

DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura declined to comment on Manzo?s letter since Jackson hadn?t read it.

Makatura said the DEP ? as well as its local arm, the Hudson Regional Health Commission ? has verified odor complaints and issued violations having to do with the plant ?operating equipment without approved permits, failure to comply with permit conditions and failing to maintain records of the material processed at the facility.?
Ken Thorbourne

The NJ DEP are a bunch of arrogant, incompetent morons.

They issued a permit to Reliable to process mulch in the middle of the most densely populated area in the nation.

Reliable stank up the joint with likely toxic emissions from a 50-foot high and two blocks long mountain of rotting mulch despite not having a JC permit for outdoor operations.

The Lafayette folk are breathing that crap. I take exit 14B every day and it's REALLY bad.

Who's on FCUKING first, NJDEP and JC???

Do something!

The smell that's not swell

Residents want recycling center shut down, citing smoke and odors

Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer 04/06/2007

NOT A PRETTY SIGHT – A different view of the Reliable Wood Products facility on Caven Point Avenue in Jersey City, which residents claim is running a recycling operation that creates a horrible smell. Photo provided by John Tichenor.

A wood recycling facility on Caven Point Avenue in Jersey City's Bergen Lafayette section has brought about the ire of people living on nearby blocks.

Longtime area resident John Tichenor called the smell from the facility an "embarrassing thing" for the neighborhood.

"I own a small building and tenants pay me money to live here, and they walk outside only to smell something foul," Tichenor said. "I am also raising a 17-year-old daughter in this environment."

Tichenor has been working with area resident Angus Vail and his neighborhood group, the Lafayette Neighborhood Action Committee, to make Reliable Wood Products more "reliable" in cutting down on the wood recycling, which they say causes odors and unhealthy dust.

A petition about these concerns has been signed by 236 residents.

The residents also want to make sure Reliable complies with zoning regulations in the Morris Canal Redevelopment Area, which don't allow recycling outdoors.

In recent weeks, the issue has caught the attention of state Assemblyman Louis Manzo, a longtime anti-pollution and environmental advocate. Manzo has visited the facility and met with state Department of Environmental Protection head Lisa Jackson last week about Reliable.

Manzo has his own ideas on what should happen.

"I would close them down if they don't comply with regulations," Manzo said.

He is even working with the Jersey City Medical Center to hold a health screening this coming Saturday, April 14, for residents living near the Reliable facility.

A burning situation


Tichenor and Vail say there were few problems until the smell became more obvious last year.

"You have trucks going in and out all the time," Tichenor claimed. "They bring in truckloads and they grind it up and then it is put into wood piles - it's very maddening."

When wood is recycled, it can come in the form of branches and stumps cleared from highways, or from wooden pallets from old ships. It is ground down and then put into piles.

That ground wood is then bought by companies who package it as mulch to be sold at home improvement stores.

Vail said that based on observation and research, the piles can pose a hazard.

"Once you bulldoze the grinded up wood into piles, if you put all that moist wood together, they do a slow burn since it's all organic," Vail said.

Tichenor, Vail, and other residents have complained to city officials.

"I asked the mayor last spring about Reliable Wood Products," Tichenor said. "He asked, 'Where was that?' which got a laugh. And afterwards I had people quietly thanking me for asking the mayor that question."

Vail criticized the Mayor's Office and the Mayor's Action Bureau, which he claimed have not responded to the complaints about Reliable.

"At least, they should have written a simple e-mail and say they are doing something," Vail said. "We have gotten 236 signatures from residents on a petition agreeing that this is a problem. If this is not a community issue, I don't know what is."

Both Tichenor and Vail said initially the DEP communicated with them in November regarding Reliable, saying they have pursued violations and fines against the facility but they were being appealed.

Reliable responds


The company's spokesperson, Michael Turner, said last week the company is currently working on the issue by removing the wood materials piled currently on-site and shipping them to other facilities the company has around the state. He said they are also bagging off the excess wood to cut down on the smell and the wood dust sent into the air, and bringing in wood that will be ground down and shipped out in the same day.

Turner also said they will work more with the community to "hopefully get them in a dialogue with us."

He also defended the recycling done at the facility.

"There is a big priority put on recycling and this saves on taking up landfill space," Turner said. "And it is a societal benefit."

The smell of progress

Manzo said last week that months ago, the city should have pursued the matter under a city statute.

"The [company] can be closed under the city's public nuisance code," said Manzo, who pointed out that when he worked for the city's Health Department, he helped close six companies under the code.

When asked if Mayor Healy or other city officials have reached out to him about dealing with the Reliable situation, he said he has not seen any action from them.

"They're too busy campaigning for Sandra Cunningham," said Manzo, referring to Healy's support of her in her state Senate campaign for the 31st District against Manzo.

Manzo is also looking forward to the health screening, as it will enable residents to check for the dust particles that would cause allergies.

He said after the two-hour visit he made to the facility earlier this month, he found himself with a sore throat.

However, city spokesperson Maria Pignataro last week responded that the city is working on the problem, but pointed out that their hands are tied legally in terms of citing Reliable for violations.

"South of Caven Point Avenue, the property is part of the Hudson County Solid Waste Distribution Plan, and the city's jurisdiction here was superceded by the DEP and the Hudson Regional Health Commission," Pignataro said in an e-mail.

She said that north of Caven Point Area, the city has jurisdiction and has issued zoning violations to the company.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com

Reliable Wood Product had a full page ad/letter in today's JJ explaining that they are a good neighbor, they are looking / building other facilities elsewhere for their wood mulch business and that they are removing the mulch in JC, albiet no time frame.

The ad/letter contains no acknowledgement of zoning and other violations.

Hopefully, this is a good sign.

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The letter was signed, Tony Soprano CEO.

I'm sorry, but if I was burning toxic waste in front of my house without a permit, do you think that taking an ad out in a local paper would make it all better.
That is such B***sh**. If you live within smelling distance I would suggest you call and write to complain.
And remember this kind of stuff when it comes time to vote. No one is looking out for the health and welfare of this area.
Bet if the mulch was being processed across the street from City Hall so those jerks had to smell it everyday, the place would be shut down by now.

Reliable Wood Product continues it's pollution rampage on Ward F residents and others.

Why are they getting away with this?

Manzo stopped it during the election process. What happened? Does he nor anybody else care any longer since the elections have passed?

Unbelievable.

I don't live very close to the mulch plant, but I smell it from time to time---and noticed the rank aroma for the first time in a while this morning. There is another thread on JCList somewhere about this issue. I called the DEP several times; they informed me the mulch farm is not supposed to operate after 7pm. I drive by there frequently and see the lights on and crew working at all hours.

The whole thing stinks.

It's still happening. We cannot open our windows because the pollution is unbelievable and really stinks. This is outragouse.

DEP and the local politicans responsible for protecting it's constituents from this type of environmental hazard know this problem exists. Yet it continues to rain on the greenville area. Taxation without representation.

What's left to be done? They say they stop at 7pm which is in itself outrageous that an entire neighborhood should have to breath pollutants during any hours. Yet it is Friday night at 10pm and we are suffocating.

I don't understand am I the only person on this site shocked by this failure to act to protect us from this crap? We are not seeking greenspace or a posh waterfront, but breathable air free from carcinogens might be nice.

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Sound gross. Here are the people who produce Shame on You on Channel 2 News. Tell them.

cgottlieb@cbs.com, epeake@cbs.com, dshelley@cbs.com, kcole@cbs.com

Cali - this is unbelievable.

I drive by there every day and for a couple of months there was no smell (or very little), and it intensified lately to the previous levels.

The guy is a polluter and must be shut down.

The DEP and the City are impotent, corrupt organizations, so perhaps the only solution will be a lawsuit. The affected residents of the nearby Bergen-Lafayette should get together with the Interfaith Council activists (sorry I forget the name of the organization, but these are the folks who successfully sued Honeywell to clean up their old property at Rt 440 for like a half a billion dollars or so).

The owners of the nearby (1000 ft away) ultra-expensive, $150 million Liberty National Golf Club should be approached as well with proposal to sue. When the wind is right (which it is most of the time), the nasty stink wafts over their hallowed links and the $30 million clubhouse currently being built. I'd think they'd have a dog in this fight.

The smell is back with vengeance. Reliable Recycling is sending out a horendous smell tonight. It is ghastly. My windows are shut but it is permeating my house.

Anyone else notice it?

YES!!!! Lincoln park stinks, smells acidic

It smells bad around exit 14 B.

Bad as it ever was...

Mr. jc_i and I noticed it over the weekend when we were on the Turnpike extension driving over the LSP/Lafayette area. The smell was definitely stronger and sharper than usual.

I was on the northwestern of Westside and it stank real bad!

I live on Fairview and the smell was so bad that I contacted the DEP and filed a report with them. They came out, of course, once the smell had dissipated but they informed me and my neighbor to call it in whenever you notice it. The number to call is 973.656.4444. If they can actually track the smell (which seems obvious) back to the place of origin, it helps them build a stronger case against the company responsible for it.

This morning I smelled it as far away as City Hall. Which could be a good thing.

I'd noticed this smell the past couple days driving on the turpike near exit 14B/C. The smell was so bad this morning when I walked out of my apartment near Jersey/Mercer, that I went online to see if I could find anything reported on it. As suggested, I called the DEP at 973.656.4444 and filed a complaint. They said they had gotten a few complaints & would investigate.

Call the following:

Get an operator number and a case number, don't hang-up without one.

Environmental Action Line:
(877) 927-6337

Please call now! We can all help change this. Takes 5 minutes.

Insist this is a chemical smell in the air, not an odor complaint.

Also call Air Enforcement: (973) 656-4099.


Reliable Paper Recycling
1 Caven Point Avenue
Jersey City, New Jersey 07305

Tel: (201) 333- 5244 x132