Foundry continues to concern neighbors
Judith Scherr , March 17, 2000

A handful of residents concerned about odors they say are emitted from the Second Street Pacific Steel Castings foundry showed up Wednesday evening at a public meeting hosted by managers of the 66-year-old plant. Holding two public forums this year is one of the conditions imposed on PSC by a Bay Area Air Quality Management Board hearing panel, when it removed a more stringent Abatement Order imposed on the foundry since 1984.

The second meeting will take place some time in April.

Several of the neighbors in attendance underscored their support for the 'foundry and said they were especially pleased that Chief Executive Officer Robert Delsol addressed the meeting, even though he was unable to stay for the question-and-answer session that followed. They also praised the new filtration system for having significantly reduced odors. At the same time, people in attendance said they continue to be concerned about odors that they believed were emitted by the plant.

"We appreciate the fact that Pacific Steel is in our neighborhood. We appreciate the economic activity, like having real work and not paper shuffling," said northwest Berkeley resident Paul Cox in his remarks at the meeting. Cox said, however, that he continued to experience "episodic" odors. "How much of your product is getting filtered? Clearly it is not everything," he said.

Christine Chan, environmental engineer and PSC spokesperson, responded that 90 percent of the combustible material goes through the filtration system, resulting in less-than-detectable odors. It is not known if the reported odors come from the plant or from one of a number of nearby industries, Chan said. She also explained that the facility without a filter - one of the company's three facilities - releases a very low level of emissions, making a filter unnecessary.

The discussion turned to criticism of the Bay Area Air Quality

District's process through which the public makes official complaints about odor nuisances.

For the district to "confirm" an odor complaint, five people need to call the district about it and an inspector needs to verify the complaints. "It's rare that an inspector makes it to my house within an hour," said Avery Beer, who said he has been making complaints for years. By the time the inspector gets there, the odor has dissipated.

Beer said that he gets headaches as a result of the odor and asked for more information about the toxic effects of the emissions. "I wouldn't give a hoot about the smell unless there was concern about toxicity," he said.

Mark Murray, from the public relations firm of Wong and Murray, who was moderating the meeting, was quick to remind attendees that the subject under discussion was odor and not toxicity.

The plant is in Councilmember Linda Maio's district. Maio attended the meeting and expressed her surprise at the small number of people present. She told Chan that at constituent meetings, concerns with odors from the plant are frequently raised to her.

Maio said her office got notice of the meeting only the day before the Wednesday meeting. While Cox said he had got notice of the meeting the Friday before, others who had attended last year's hearings on PSC said they had received no notice at all.