Hunts Point Activist Group Raises Stink Over Fertilizer Plant
Something stinks in Hunts Point, and this time it’s not the sewage-roasting fertilizer plant but the city panel tasked with policing odors on the peninsula, according to activists who have mounted protests.
The New York Organic Fertilizer Co., which cooks sludge from all over the city into fertilizer pellets, has long been a source of odors and controversy in a part of the South Bronx that is no stranger to environmental problems.
But starting a couple of years ago, community groups like Sustainable South Bronx have managed to forge a remarkably cooperative relationship with NYOFCO.
“We had a process with NYOFCO,” said Miquela Craytor, deputy director of Sustainable South Bronx, “and it was working pretty well.”
Sustainable South Bronx and other local stakeholders had formed a working group that met with NYOFCO officials, toured the facilities and held regular meetings to discuss best practices.
“NYOFCO opened their doors and became very transparent,” said Craytor, who admits she’s unaccustomed to praising the company.
But that all came to an end last December, when the city’s Department of Environmental Protection stepped in.
A clause in the fertilizer company’s contract with DEP stipulates that it cannot share information about its internal workings without DEP’s permission. Late last year, the agency apparently rescinded that permission.
“At the December meeting, DEP said they were folding the NYOFCO process into the Hunts Point Monitoring Committee,” said Craytor.
The HPMC is a panel controlled by DEP that meets monthly to discuss odor issues on the peninsula. Chair Debra Pucci said the reason DEP put the kibosh on NYOFCO’s outside cooperation with community groups was to make sure DEP was kept in the loop. Read more..
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