Delaware OKs slag-grinding plant in Wilmington over neighbor health concerns

Delaware officials granted a Pennsylvania-based company a permit to build a slag-grinding facility in south Wilmington, clearing the way for a project that residents in nearby Southbridge had fiercely opposed over environmental concerns.

The state will require Walan Specialty Construction Products to install the "best available technology" to minimize emissions of the granulated slag, a powder-like material that will be ground from a steel manufacturing byproduct. The final product is used as a cement additive.

Walan, known in Pennsylvania as Penn Mag, will also be required to implement a dust control plan, according to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and direct trucks carrying the material to avoid residential routes.

The permit comes after half a year of deliberation from DNREC, which extended a public comment period last fall to allow residents to submit concerns. 

In issuing the permit, DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin wrote that the Division of Air Quality determined emissions from the facility would be lower than federal and state air pollution laws require.

The proposal to open the facility on a stretch of Christiana Avenue was fiercely opposed last year by residents of Wilmington's Southbridge neighborhood, and New Castle County's Route 9 corridor. 

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For months they showed up at DNREC meetings and submitted letters, arguing a concentration of industrial sites in the area had created environmental and health hazards for the majority black, low-income neighborhood.

They worried about slag dust getting in the air. Industry safety sheets state the material can damage lungs if the dust is breathed in, and contains small amounts of materials that may cause cancer. 

There is little research on the effects of slag grinding operations on their surroundings. One study submitted to the state of New Jersey of a slag processing facility in Camden concluded the plant likely contributed about 10% of outdoor dust in the area.

News of the plans alarmed residents in a part of Wilmington that environmental advocates found was one of seven in Delaware where residents suffered cancer and respiratory illnesses at higher rates than their counterparts in wealthier, whiter Greenville.

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The state Division of Public Health rejected the study’s conclusions.

“We’ve had promises in the past that industries were not going to cause pollution,” former state Rep. J.J. Johnson said at a DNREC public hearing over the permit application last November. “That didn’t happen.”

The Division of Air Quality responded in a department memo: "The operating histories of previous facilities located near the Route 9 corridor, and Southbridge Area should not be used as a measure to gauge future operations of new facilities which may be located in the area."

Walan said it would comply with standards, be good neighbors and provide jobs. Port of Wilmington officials and the longshoremen's union welcomed the possibility of more port jobs.

Walan Vice President Lisa Dharwadkar said last fall she anticipated hiring 10 local people at the new facility.

She said in an email Monday those plans have not changed and the company "concurs with the requirements in the permit."

"Walan acknowledges and appreciates the community engagement," Dharwadkar wrote. "Walan hopes to move forward with the project this year."

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Southbridge resident Diana Dixon said she's skeptical DNREC will strictly enforce regulations at the facility. She said neighborhood residents want the company to provide some community benefit, such as a commitment to hiring people with felony convictions.

"We already knew this was going to happen," Dixon said. "But what are they going to give back to us?"

The controversy over the facility was not the first time DNREC heard of air quality concerns in south Wilmington.

Two years ago, the Division of Air Quality had set up a monitoring platform in Eden Park to study air pollutants, including inhalable particles. 

The department on Monday did not respond to a request for comment about whether the study factored into decision-making about the facility's permit.

Karl Baker contributed reporting.

Contact Jeanne Kuang at jkuang@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2476. Follow her on Twitter at @JeanneKuang.

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