Hopewell News - "Petition to Reduce 'Hopewell Smell' is Presented"
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Hopewell News - "Petition to Reduce 'Hopewell Smell' is Presented"
By ELLIOTT ROBINSON
On Jan. 22, the Hopewell Clean Air Network made its first formal steps to reduce smells and the chemicals that cause them in the city and surrounding area. A petition with about 80 signatures was presented to Regional Enterprise Inc., which produces asphalt, to mitigate smells it releases around City Point.
The Clean Air Network was formed in May and has about 30 members, said Jim Gould, conservation project coordinator with the Sierra Club. The group has concerns about the air quality in the city. The petition asked Regional Enterprises and its parent company, Rio Vista Energy to add more pollution controls and prevention technology to greatly reduce odors and air emissions from the business. Additionally, it asks that lines of communication are opened between the company and the surrounding citizens.
As Regional Enterprises and other surrounding industries are not breaking any laws, the petition is just a suggestion, Gould said. “We can only ask them to act on this on their own good will as neighbors,” he said.
Eventually, the Clean Air Network plans to present similar petitions to other industries in the city to request they make changes to reduce what is released into the atmosphere. They see Regional Enterprises as a small but important step forward.
“They can be the leaders of this,” said Rebekah Goodwin, who signed the petition. “If we don't ask now, when will it happen?”
A message left for the general manager of Regional Enterprise was not returned at press time.
In a matter related to the city's air quality, the Hopewell Clean Air Network released the results of independent air tests around the city Jan. 30. The release said the test results “showed levels of airborne chemicals as much as 300 times higher than considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”
Over the summer, concerned citizens collected air samples, which were tested by Columbia Analytical Services, a US EPA-certified lab in California.
The release also said that, separately, the city's factories may be in compliance with state air quality regulations but will need to make a collective effort to reduce pollutants into the atmosphere.
“We are hopeful that with this information we can advance a dialogue with local industries and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that will result in cleaner air not only for Hopewell, but all of Virginia,” Gould said in the statement.
The Hopewell Clean Air Network holds meetings on the third Tuesday of each month, at 6 p.m. in the Appomattox Regional Library Headquarters.
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