Irasburg residents want state officials to shut down a controversial asphalt plant until a final verdict is reached in the business’s ongoing Act 250 case.
Twelve Orleans County residents sent a letter May 7 to Eugene Reid, chair of the area’s Act 250 commission, asking the state Natural Resources Board to close the plant until the commission issues a final decision in the case.
Neighbors have complained for years about smells, noise and emissions at the facility on Route 58 owned by a Richmond company, J. Hutchins Inc. One person once compared it to Gotham City.
Their concerns grew last year after the company’s owner, Jeff Hutchins, replaced the plant with a larger one, and said it would better control emissions and odors. It was an effort to address community concerns, he said. For instance, the upgraded plant is outfitted with a “blue smoke” kit, meant to take the fumes produced by asphalt processing out of the air.
Hutchins asked the regional Act 250 coordinator to rule that the asphalt plant upgrade didn’t constitute a change in his operating permit. But the coordinator did the opposite, leading Hutchins to appeal the decision to Vermont Superior Court.
At the same time, he sought an amendment to his permit from the regional Act 250 commission, which in his view would resolve the issue.
Amid the regulatory fray, opponents of the plant saw an opportunity to halt its expansion.
The letter is one of two recent documents filed in the case. The other provides some idea of what’s next.
According to a May 21 memo written by Reid, the commission chair, the regulatory body “plans to issue its findings and decision shortly.” He noted that all evidence in the case had been submitted.
But nothing more had been filed in the case as of Wednesday, according to the state’s online Act 250 database.
Reid wrote that the residents’ letter had been forwarded to the Natural Resources Board for consideration in any possible enforcement action.
The residents made several other requests in the letter.
They wrote that, contrary to standard procedure, the district commission had issued no order or memo following its November 2020 hearing on whether the new asphalt plant needed a new permit.
“It’s been six months since the hearing and we are still waiting,” the group wrote. “We request that the commission issue an order so that we may know how to proceed.”
As several of the residents have written in past letters to officials, the group alleged that the plant has violated its permit by producing “undue emissions and odors that have been detected at the nearby residences.”
When Agency of Natural Resources investigators visited the asphalt plant, though, they didn’t find the odors too obtrusive, the group wrote.
“In effect, we have found that ANR investigators feel that the detection of odors is subjective — that not all noses are equal,” the group wrote.
The group added that its members “no longer find ANR investigative staff credible in addressing the concerns of the residents of Irasburg.”
Since the plant received its initial permit in 2017, it has been a source of division among townspeople.
Along with complaints about noise and smells, opponents have expressed concerns about the health impacts of the plant’s emissions. Supporters have praised Hutchins for bringing jobs to the small mountain town and his willingness to solve the problems.
“I think, as a neighbor to the town, I’ve done a good job trying to solve their concerns,” he told VTDigger last year. “Maybe not well enough for them, but I haven’t given up, and I’m still spending money trying to solve the issues.”
