The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has fined Green Asphalt $25,000 in connection with nuisance conditions following significant community opposition against the Blissville plant.
Green Asphalt, located at 37-98 Railroad Ave., replaces traditional asphalt mixes with recycled asphalt, stating that recycled mixes help reduce costs for contractors and improve sustainability goals in projects across the city.
However, residents have stated that fumes from the plant have created significant quality-of-life issues in the area ever since Green Asphalt established a presence in Blissville in 2011.
Numerous residents living on both sides of Newtown Creek have alleged that pollution from the plant has intensified in recent years, leaving locals struggling with acrid smells regularly.
The DEC previously issued Green Asphalt with a nuisance violation in January 2024, stating that emissions from the plant were of such poor quality that they “unreasonably interfered with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.”
The state agency has now executed a legally-binding order on consent agreement with Green Asphalt, imposing a $124,500 penalty on the plant with $99,500 suspended.
The order on consent accused Green Asphalt of failing to submit annual monitoring reports between 2019 and 2023 as well as allowing contaminants to the outdoor atmosphere of a quality that is “injurious to human, plant, or animal life or to property.” Green Asphalt did not contest the order.
A DEC spokesperson said the order also requires Green Asphalt to implement mitigative measures at the plant, requiring Green Asphalt to double the height of its existing smoke stack to 90 feet by Dec. 11.
“Most importantly, the order on consent requires Green Asphalt to implement mitigative measures at the facility under DEC oversight,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “DEC will closely monitor compliance with the enforcement conditions to ensure protection of public health and the environment.”
The company is also required to perform testing for harmful toxins such as reduced sulfur compounds and volatile organic compounds. Depending on the results of those tests, Green Asphalt will be required to perform follow-up testing.
Green Asphalt is also required to conduct air dispersion modeling calculating how pollutants move through the local atmosphere.
Green Asphalt has achieved early compliance with DEC orders requiring the plant to comply with asphalt cement storage tank and fugitive dust control regulations, the DEC said.
DEC said it continues to work with the Blissville community to address concerns stemming from the Green Asphalt facility and said DEC officials met with residents at a community meeting held on Sept. 16.
A DEC official outlined that the agency will take “appropriate action” to ensure public health and the environment are protected if it deems that further controls are necessary.
Blissville residents told QNS in June that quality-of-life issues connected to the Green Asphalt plant have allegedly intensified since the plant received a nuisance violation in January 2024.
Residents have since stated that the problems have persisted over the summer, including an incident on the night of Aug. 12 when Blissville was “engulfed” in emissions from the plant overnight. Some residents told QNS that it was “difficult to breathe” on the night in question.
Sources familiar with the matter stated that the incident related to a specific city contract that Green Asphalt had taken on, which required the production of asphalt overnight. Sources insisted that Green Asphalt usually strives to produce asphalt during normal daytime hours and added that incident sparked so much concern because residents are not used to seeing the plant operating at night time.
They said that contract has now come to an end and the issue has been resolved, but residents say the broader issue of air contamination still persists.
Kim Dossin, who has lived in Blissville for 25 years, told QNS that she has had trouble breathing at certain points due to the alleged contamination. Dossin, 65, who suffers from asthma and a stage 3 liver condition, said her cat was also “heaving” at one point due to fumes from the plant.
A spokesperson for Green Asphalt told QNS in early September that the plant is on track to meet all deadlines provided by the DEC, stating that the plant is on course to heighten its existing smokestacks by the Dec. 11 deadline – pending approval from the Department of Buildings.
However, Green Asphalt owner Michael Capasso downplayed the impacts of the plant at the Sept. 16 community meeting, according to a report in the New York Post.
The Post reports that Capasso denied that fumes from the plant were hazardous, with the Green Asphalt owner reportedly blaming a social media frenzy for some of the community complaints over the issue.
“Whatever you are feeling, you’re put at ease to know we’re not killing you,” Capasso reportedly told the community meeting.
