Cyclists pass by the Fort Myer factory in Eckington on the Metropolitan Branch Trail. Image by the author.
The air quality permit for the Fort Myer Eckington asphalt plant will be renewed for five more years, and a generation of open comments will end with a public hearing on Monday, March 18. So, it’s a good time to take a look at the main points of in this case and if it’s moderate to expect asphalt repair to be a long-term component of the neighborhood’s future.
When I moved to Eckington in 2014, I immediately fell in love with the Metropolitan Branch Trail. The three-mile stretch of the trail from NoMa to Brookland is a gem of DC’s cycling infrastructure. The tour is only spoiled through the landscape north of Tanner Park: piles of gravel to the east, a stinky asphalt plant to the west, and heavy trucks crossing the trail to get from one to the other.
It’s an oddly commercial expanse between two quiet neighborhoods. Residents have fought to replace the distribution of land use here and elsewhere in District 5, a fact reflected in calls for decommercialization by elected officials like City Councilmember Zachary Parker.
Of course, it’s not uncommon to see neighbors object to an impractical but mandatory installation. And asphalt plants are mandatory: Once prepared, the asphalt will have to be temporarily trucked to the structure site before it cools down and becomes unusable. Maintaining our roads requires a network of nearby asphalt plants, usually located at sites within a few dozen miles of any paved surface.
But does this make sense?
A position for a plant.
DC is fortunate to have open knowledge resources. Thanks to the city’s general directory, we can accurately count how many residential complexes have been added in the vicinity of the asphalt plant.
How far does our research go? It is difficult to find definitive answers to this question. Some mornings I can smell the plant when I leave my house, which is just over 1. 3 kilometers away. Emissions from plants come with ingredients you can’t smell, but it turns out to be a moderate measure. threshold to begin with.
Edgewood and Eckington have seen expansion since the factory’s last license renewal in 2019. Less than a kilometer from the plant, the number of sets has more than doubled.
Any balance of considerations assessed in 2019 between citizens’ interests and commercial interests must be adjusted in particular in favour of citizens. There are simply a lot more people in the field than there used to be.
But it’s not just about a new structure nearby. There are also a significant number of schools nearby, all of which were founded before 2019. These include Noyes, DC Prep, Washington Latin, Hope Community, Two Rivers, Inspired Teaching, Lee Montessori, Harmony, Washington Leadership Academy, Langley, and McKinley. According to data from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) in Washington, 3,283 students are enrolled in schools within a mile of the plant.
To get a clearer idea of the plant’s location in relation to nearby schools and residential units, check out the interactive map I built.
The above only counts to children. But it’s also worth noting that the Sonia Gutierrez campus of the Carlos Rosario School, which serves adult immigrants, is across the street from the Eckington factory. OSSE estimates that enrollment at this two-campus school is only less than 2,000 people, and the Gutierrez campus appears to be the larger and newer of the two.
None of this is typical of an asphalt plant. Both the Maryland Asphalt Association and the Virginia Asphalt Association list their members’ plant locations. Using this data, I tested the population density of the plant’s census tract.
The Eckington plant is located in what is by far the densest location of any plant in the District, Maryland or Virginia. Its location is more than 40 times denser than the average domain that houses a DMV asphalt plant.
Pollution Promises
Asphalt plants pollute; It’s inevitable. PlantDemand, a product serving the industry, notes that
“Asphalt plants can produce emissions that are destructive to human health and the environment. Emissions may contain volatile biological compounds, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide. These emissions can cause breathing problems, headaches, and other health problems.
Asphalt plants combine (and grind) aggregates with heated bitumen, which means that, in addition to asphalt vapors, they produce combustion and pollutant particles. The science on the effects of air pollutants is advancing rapidly, and the news is not good. negative effects on school performance, impulse control, and life expectancy.
Clinical evidence on exposure to asphalt fumes is less conclusive. The CDC has studied the factor in asphalt workers, but has failed to draw solid conclusions beyond stating that fumes can aggravate the factors and studying their carcinogenic and cardiovascular effects.
Encouragingly, the Eckington plant’s consistent application of limits will lead to very significant reductions in capacity and emissions. Total production would fall to 240,000 tonnes per year, down from 1. 75 million previously allowed. Throughput would be capped at 120 tonnes per hour, up from 1. 75 million tonnes per hour. two hundred in the past. The renewal would also be accompanied by discounts on the fare and in general on various pollutants, as well as new measures to eliminate particulate dust and teach truckers about engine idling laws. Perhaps the biggest immediate interest for neighbors is the plans to install blue smoke condensers to capture bitumen vapors found in the neighborhood when the plant is up and running.
1. An annual asphalt production of 1,051,200 tons is assumed
2. Se assumes an annual asphalt throughput of 240,000 tonnes, in accordance with the limits established in accordance with 20 DCMR 200. 6 and 200. 7.
3. Total particle values come with filterable and condensable particle fractions. The values in this table were calculated taking into account the emission limit set forth in the permit for emissions from the drying/blending process, as defined in the discussion on the applicability of Chapter 2 of 20 DCMR below.
Are those numbers real?
But those pledges will have to be weighed against a history of failing to adequately emit, revealed in the renewal application itself. The application’s technical assistance memorandum describes an emission limit setting procedure in which the plant’s output was measured to identify a baseline. Six measurements were examined by the District Air Quality Division (AQD), but some of them had to be rejected because they were strangely superior: in one case, 3 times higher than they deserved to have been.
AQD attributes this to maintenance issues. It’s wonderful to see the AQD conscientiously contemplate the effects when setting benchmarks. But the fact that the plant has so far operated outdoors within expected parameters raises the question of whether it will be able to meet new, stricter limits.
Who owns the garden?
Perhaps the most productive thing about the Eckington plant is that it already exists: any potential site to replace it will have its own drawbacks. It’s easy to locate spaces in Washington that are less dense than Eckington, but many are notoriously poor candidates, due to their low density due to parks, cemeteries or federal buildings. It’s true that spaces closer to the outskirts of the city tend to be less dense. Also worth mentioning are the spaces close to the RFK Stadium and the National Park, thanks to their fair adequate road access and ability to plan production around the games.
But this means that a replacement is necessary. The Eckington plant is the only one in Washington DC. Brentwood is home to Fort Myer Corporation’s other asphalt plant. And D. C. ‘s third plant, in Blue Plains, sits on a domain with a density less than 10% than Eckington. If the Eckington factory were to close, could it be just those other two that would take over?Could suburban factories? This is an issue that deserves consideration, especially in view of the significant production relief proposed by the Eckington plant renovation application.
I’ve been a neighbor of the Eckington asphalt plant for a decade. There are worse neighbors you can have. I can even admit that the state logo on the Fort Myer garage bins is pretty appealing. But the surrounding community has evolved from a landscape of deserted warehouses and fenced-in fields to one filled with condos, parks, breweries and pickleball courts.
Each year, the presence of the plant becomes more unusual; it becomes a nuisance to a greater number of people; Opportunities for greater use of the area are multiplying. Asphalt plants have to go somewhere, but so do other people. With Eckington’s growing population, I suspect that more people than ever will have a say in whether or not the plant’s permit should be renewed.
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Tom Lee is a policy manager for a Washington-based mapping software company. A longtime DCist contributor and perennial host of Bike Hack Night, Tom is from the Washington domain and lately lives in Bloomingdale.
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