Randolph
Randolph residents are dealing with the fallout — literally — of particulate matter resulting from an emissions leak at Vermont Castings’ foundry that covered nearby vehicles and homes in a sandpaper-like film, causing extensive property damage.
The emissions leak was identified by Vermont Castings in late July, but the public didn’t find out until several weeks later, when residents and businesses along Dylan Drive in Randolph noticed that the metal surfaces of cars were embedded with fine, dust-size particles that were causing corrosion.
“It’s on everything. It didn’t land just on my car,” said Helen Sivret, who lives om Dylan Drive about a mile northwest from the Vermont Castings foundry on Beanville Road. “I don’t think it can be fixed.”
The leak has triggered an investigation by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, the agency that overseas air quality control permits. The probe could result in fines or other actions against Vermont Castings and its Iowa-based owner, HNI Corp., said Kim Greenwood, division director with DEC in Montpelier.
“Right now we’re looking into what happened and are gathering facts,” Greenwood said.
She said an investigator has been dispatched to Randolph to assess the origin of the emissions and its impact on property and the environment. She expected a report to take at least a month to complete which would then be reviewed by department officials and attorney for possible action.
Adolpho Bailon, town manager of Randolph, said the town is aware of the incident but is deferring to state investigators in the matter.
“We want to respect the process because the claim that is being made about what happened is not something town government regulates,” he said. “We’ll abide by the state,” adding that he hasn’t had any contact with Vermont Castings or HNI officials.
The Vermont Castings foundry in Randolph recently completed a more than $10 million upgrading project after the company was acquired by HNI Corp. in 2014. The plant forges from scrap metal cast-iron casings and plates for the wood-burning stoves, which are assembled in Pennsylvania.
Steven Bradford, vice president at HNI Corp., to whom Randolph’s plant manager referred calls, said that the emissions were caused by fabric tears in the plant’s air filtration bag system through which factory air is exhausted. The bag tear caused the particles to pass through the exhaust system untrapped and to be released into the air.
Bradford said plant operators discovered the leak on July 20. although he couldn’t say for how long the emissions leak went on before it was detected.
“We don’t believe it was going on for long,” he said.
Vermont Castings took “immediate steps” to address the situation by “self reporting” the leak to state regulators — as is required under its air permit — and replacing all 880 air filter bags even though only what he described as “tens” in number were found to be torn.
“We replaced all the bags out of an abundance of caution,” he said. “The work has all been done.”
According to Bradford, the fine metallic particles are created in the grinding process of recycled brake drums that is the source of the cast iron used at the foundry. The brake drums are ground and then turned into molten iron and poured into sand molds that make the stove parts. Dust created during the grinding process is sucked into a filtration system that traps the particles in the fabric bag filters, he explained.
But when the particles get released into the air and settle on wet metal and glass surfaces, such as cars or metal roofs, they oxidize and stick to the surface. The particles are not necessarily detectable by sight but can feel like sandpaper if touched by hand.
“Those little particles then begin to rust,” he said.
Bradford said HNI has hired a third-party company that specializes in cleaning vehicles and is on-site at the Randolph plant where residents can take their cars. So far, 30 vehicles have been treated, he said.
But not all residents want to entrust their vehicles to the cleaner that HNI has hired from out of state.
Dennis Tabor, owner of Tabor Towing and Sevrit’s neighbor on Dylan Drive, said at least 15 vehicles on his towing, auto repair and used car sales lot have been coated with the sandy film.
“I knew where it was coming from because it’s been happening for years,” he said. “This time it’s bad.”
Tabor said he’s been frustrated by the slow response from Vermont Castings and instead has gone out and solicited quotes from other auto body repair companies. The estimated tab to clean all of his vehicles: at least $60,000 — which Tabor said he will make sure Vermont Castings covers.
“And that’s not even getting to my metal roof yet,” he said of cost.
Tabor’s neighbor and Sivret’s landlord, Ken Smith, said that his vehicles weren’t affected because he keeps his cars in garages, but about 60 feet of metal gutters around his house and the metal trim around the edge of his above-ground pool are all covered with the particles.
Moreover, he said, his “country club lawn” turned brown in early August and one side of his grey-shingle roof mysteriously turned black at the same time.
“I don’t know if that was caused by the emissions but I want to find out,” he said.
On Friday, White River Junction’s JAS Auto Body owner Toby Jasmin had just come back from inspecting vehicles in Randolph and providing quotes for how much it would cost to clean them, which ranged from $1,000 to $8,000 “if you have to repaint the vehicle and replace the trim and moldings.”
Jasmin said it is not unusual for what occurred in Randolph to occur in “manufacturing towns,” and he recommended people who live near a manufacturing plant have on hand any of the available particle removal solutions they can apply to their vehicles “and you’ll be fine.”
But in the case of Vermont Castings’ emissions, “the material was so hot when it landed on the surface of the vehicles and then with the sun is beating down on it … that you just can’t take a solution and buff it off,” said.
Jasmin thinks that the company HNI hired to clean the vehicles should be able to handle the majority of the vehicles they are presented with, although some cars might require repainting.
John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews.com.
