Dear Rich Fitzgerald, Allegheny County Executive,

Emsworth residents are subjected to air pollution that smells like oil, gas and burning plastic, rubber and metal and that gives them headaches and makes them nauseous. One resident has said that the odor from Metalico reminds her of the smell that permeated New York City, where she lived at the time, in the months after 9/11.This air pollution harms their health and forces them to stay inside with their windows closed. It also contributes to the County’s overall poor air quality. The source of this air pollution is Neville Recycling [Metalico], a recycling company on Neville Island that shreds cars, probably without removing all of their plastic and rubber components. Metalico’s irresponsible operation also caused a massive fire on April 14, 2021 that required 21 fire companies and over six hours to extinguish. For all that time, highly toxic smoke blew into Emsworth that is directly across the Ohio River from Metalico. Residents weren’t given any guidance about how to protect themselves and many had to leave their homes for the night.

Requests:
(1) Increase the Allegheny County Health Department’s inspections of Metalico.
(2) Stop allowing the company to operate in a way that creates this air pollution (over 350 Metalico pollution events have been documented since 2018.) and that creates the conditions that caused the April 14th fire. Emsworth residents and others in the Ohio Valley should not be subjected to the harmful air pollution that Metalico produces.
(3) Establish procedures that would alert Allegheny County residents about industrial incidents, like the April 14th Metalico fire, that create conditions hazardous to their health.