DEQ: Asphalt mixing plant violating emissions laws

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) – Oregon environmental officials say a Salem construction firm has violated state emissions laws and must take corrective action at a controversial asphalt mixing site it has been operating.
 
The Gazette-Times reports (http://bit.ly/2h2kfLY ) the Department of Environment Quality issued an Aug. 29 “warning letter with opportunity to correct” to Houck Construction, which has been providing asphalt for a Highway 20 paving project between Philomath and the Oregon Coast.
 
State officials inspected the plant and documented “excessive fugitive emissions generating blue haze escaping from the top of the asphalt silo.”
 
The company asserted that the fugitive emissions most likely were steam, but that they are “researching methods of reducing silo emissions in order to develop and implement a corrective action plan.”