Many people received flyers from “Moms for Clean Air” that implied kids’ health at nearby schools would be jepordized if the asphalt plant was built . We want to clear the air on this issue. First, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District(BAAQMD)–the regulatory agency that determines the impacts on air quality–performed a health risk assessment on the proposed plant. In the health risk assessment, they analyzed the impacts of the plant operations as if a person lived right next door to the plant for 70 years, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The study concludes there was “no significant health risk” posed by the Haystack Asphalt plant.

Link to BAAQMD Report: http://www.petalumaasphaltplant.com/downloads/BAAQMD-Health-Risk-Assessment-10-9-2008.pdf

Common sense tells you that if there is no significant health risk from living next door to the plant, a school 1 mile or 3 miles away isn’t going to have any adverse impacts from the plant. Dutra operated an Asphalt and Recycling plant for 20 years in a location that was just as close, if not closer, to downtown and schools .  The new plant will be a state-of-the-art facility with a fully contained asphalt production process and conveyor systems.

The old plant didn’t impact public health and the new plant does not pose a health threat to the public and especially not to children.