Saturday, March 11, 2000
Orange powder 'over everything'
Plant denies mist, promises controls
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
FRANKLIN — At least one resident on the city's south side is again seeing red about an alleged orange mist in the neighborhood.
“It was on our van. It's over everything again,” said South Avenue resident Tres sa Besserman. “It's bright orange spots again.”
Mrs. Besserman said the orange substance fell on Tuesday and Wednesday. She laid the blame on Miami Valley Paper, a plant that sprayed an orange goo in 1998.
But the company says it doesn't know if there even was a release this week.
“We looked around. We went around in the neighborhood and basically we found no problems,” said Kailash Mehta, director of operations. “There was no malfunction of our equipment. I looked at the parking lots. I looked at the lawns. I couldn't find anything myself.”
He also said he took pictures of the neighborhood, but no orange showed up.
In 1998, an orange substance from the plant rained down on vans, houses, swings, decks and even trees around the plant. Mrs. Besserman said the orange from 1998, though faded, still hasn't come off some of her property.
This week's came as a powder, she said.
“I'm so angry,” she said. “They tell us that it's not happening or that it's not coming from their building. There is no one else that uses this orange pigment. I'm hoping that this is now going to bring the whole neighborhood together.”
Miami Valley Paper makes specialty and coated papers for labels and office products at the nearly 100-year-old Franklin plant. The building is located on Oxford Road and abuts a residential area.
City officials said the company plans to have the problem eliminated within several weeks.
“We've had contact with the plant manager and he's assured us that a dust control system was ordered,” said Franklin City Manager James Lukas. “The city has very little we can do. Even though this was probably a lot more minor than the first incident ... if I lived over there I'd be upset, too.”
Mrs. Besserman said she is also concerned about health risks the dye could pose, especially to young children in the neighborhood.
“It's very minor as far as looking at the material safety data sheet,” said Paul Deane, Warren County's environmental hazards coordinator. “There is a slight health hazard to it, and it's usually respiratory. But very slight.”
He also said Miami Valley officials have told him they expect to have a containment system up in about six weeks. County officials will head back to the plant in about a month to check on the progress of the system, Mr. Deane said.
Getting such a system running can't come soon enough for Mrs. Besserman.
“I pray every day. I wish this would come to an end,” she said. “The company is in the wrong here and we're just trying to get our problem solved.”
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