Business Closure Called For After Employees Fall Ill from Chemical Smell

ABINGDON, Va. – After six weeks of sick employees complaining about a chemical smell in the air, the president of Hapco wants authorities to shut down his industrial neighbor, MXI, if that’s what it takes to stop the illness until the problem can be fixed.

But an MXI official said it’s not to blame for health problems next door, and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality says while it’s working with the company, testing shows the industrial smell at Exit 22 of Interstate 81 shouldn’t have lasting health effects.

As the testing and finger-pointing continue, the ongoing issue is raising eyebrows in industry and county government as the illness at Hapco persists.

“Our problem is very simple,” said David Oakley, president of Hapco. “While they’re trying to figure out what to do, we’re still getting sick, and it worries me, in fact it scares me, that somebody is going to have symptoms … that is operating heavy equipment and get hurt or get killed because nothing has been done.”

MXI, which is in the industrial area around Exit 22, recycles alcoholic beverages and various household products into alcohol-based fuel. Hapco’s plant, which makes aluminum poles, sits at approximately the same elevation as the exhaust coming from MXI’s cooling tower.

In late April, plant employees went outside and called for help when they were sickened by an odor; earlier this week, they called for help again when everyone on second shift began having symptoms.

Kalonn Roberts, spokeswoman for Hapco, says employees have become ill from the smell many times in between; Production Manager Dave Meadows says the problem began in February or March and worsened, affecting production.

Brian Potter, operations manager for MXI, said that while the smell appears to be emanating from a new process installed earlier this year to recycle water at MXI, the products processed there are things like beer and perfume and should not make people sick.

“I can’t speak to what else is going on up there at their facility,” Potter said of Hapco. “I know what’s going on here, and I know that none of us are sick.”

Potter describes the plant’s odor as “a perfume smell, something like dryer sheets.” He added that for the last month his company has been using a chemical that he says has been effective in reducing the smell.

He says complaints have been made even when his facility is not operating – and he’s offered to change plant scheduling if that would help.

“We’ve had no adverse health effects at our facility at all, and therefore, we believe our process isn’t creating them,” Potter said. “I think there’s lots of potential sources of pollution in this industrial park. I think they should be exploring them all.”

At Hapco, employees blame the smell from MXI for symptoms that result in being “very dizzy,” said Meadows.

“You lose a lot of your motor skills,” he said, adding that employees complain of “nausea, drowsiness, fatigue, dry throat, itchy throat, real lightheaded dizziness, about any complication you can think of from the consumption of alcohol.”

Roberts said employees also complain of nausea, headaches, respiratory troubles, nosebleeds and a metal taste in the mouth.

The issue has even made its way to the Washington County Board of Supervisors, which discussed it during last Wednesday’s meeting.

“They have to take care of it,” said Jack McCrady, vice chairman of the board. “People can’t be allowed to go to work to earn a living and get sick.”

The board took no action on the issue.

An anonymous caller Thursday pointed the finger at a piece of equipment at Hapco that is being looked at by DEQ to determine whether it meets the criteria for additional regulation.

Hapco says the issue centers on whether it should be classified as an evaporator or an incinerator, and until this week, it hasn’t been operational since March or April.

Crystal Bazyk, air compliance specialist for DEQ’s southwest regional office in Abingdon, said no action has been taken against Hapco.

She says DEQ has been working with MXI since April to mitigate the odor and has tested air quality on MXI property, in the area of the plume coming from MXI’s cooling tower.

“Dr. Tripathi concluded the concentrations detected in the grab samples were very low and did not exceed the health-based level of concern,” Bazyk said, reading from an e-mail received from the office of State Toxicologist Ram Tripathi. “Therefore, exposures are not expected to result in any adverse health effects.”

She said results should be ready next week from another test, this time done on Hapco property where employees say the smell is making them sick.

“If someone feels like there is an issue with another facility, I would suggest that they get in contact with us,” Bazyk said.

At MXI, Potter said his plant has an environmentally friendly focus, taking products that would otherwise be dumped into a landfill and turning them into renewable fuel.

At Hapco, Oakley says he’s invited OSHA in to look at the problem and he’s called a Thursday meeting to discuss the issue with representatives of other nearby industries, which he says are experiencing the smell as well.

“We’ve having outside testing agencies come in and provide 24-hour monitoring both inside and outside,” he said. “We’re going to do everything within our legal power to get this smell out of our building.”

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