Talks of a bench trial began in April for the Commonwealth V. River Metals Recycling cases; today, a trial date was set for 2024.
Though conversations about a bench trial began earlier this year, the cases have been before Campbell County District Court Judge Cameron Blau since January 2021.
Blau set the bench trial for two days on March 5 and 6, 2024, at 9 a.m. Attorneys on both sides of the case were brief with their remarks Tuesday, but residents and city representatives were not pleased with the news.
“This delay is the denial of justice, and that phrase ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ is real,” Newport Commissioner Ken Rechtin told LINK nky.
The charges are for reported noise violations by residents due to explosions at the River Metals Recycling facility in Newport’s west end.
Rechtin said these are criminal charges brought before the judge, not civil complaints.
“It’s like driving 60 miles an hour down Monmouth Street,” Rechtin said. “This is a violation of the city of Newport’s criminal laws.”
In August, the city announced a potential agreement being worked toward with River Metals Recycling, known locally as RMR. That announcement came on Aug. 11 before the first scheduled bench trial was set to occur on Aug. 14.
The release said negotiations were being worked on investments to “improve the quality of life for residents.”
That included new equipment such as a pre-shredder that would allow for the reduction of processing noise and mitigate the risk of combustion during the shredding process, as well as a fire rover, which would have the capability to detect emerging hot spots and further reduce the risk of fire throughout the facility.
The release said that the initial investment by RMR would exceed $5.5 million and add operating costs of over $600,000 annually.
“RMR has committed to making significant investments in advanced technologies that will enhance their processes and the quality of life for local residents,” the news release said.
And yet, Rechtin said the noise and explosions have persisted.
Since June, Newport resident Annette Kitchen, who has been heavily involved with the cases, has tracked nine explosions from the site.
- June 15 7:54 a.m.
- Oct. 31 10:56 a.m.
- Oct. 31 1:45 p.m.
- Nov. 2 10:17 a.m.
- Nov. 27 9:09 a.m.
- Nov. 28 11:35 a.m.
- Dec. 8 7:44 a.m.
- Dec. 11 11:21 a.m.
- Dec. 19 7:38 a.m.
Rechtin said just with the explosions they have had within the past month, they’re on track to have 50 a year again.
“We’re back to where we were at the very beginning of this thing,” he said. “It seems to be block, delay, delay and continue operations the same way it’s been continuing, and it’s intolerable.”
Aside from the negotiations for a pre-shredder and fire rover, as mentioned in the news release, Rechtin said RMR has already built a wall around the plant that was supposed to reduce noise.
“They hired these sound experts out of Texas, and they’re engineers in sound mitigation, and they brought them in, and they took the time and designed a wall called ‘the big blue wall’ that they said would stop the noise and stop the explosions,” he said. “It has done nothing evidently.”
Kitchen said her question with the case is how RMR, as a tenant of Kirschner’s, can negotiate an agreement for equipment they don’t own.
“Kirschner’s owns the land and is the landlord,” Kitchen said. “With the antiquated hammermill being there forever, it is believed the hammermill is property of Kirschner’s.”
With the bench trial moving forward, Rechtin said Blau could find that their criminal complaint has no merit. He said if he does find it has merit, he doesn’t know what gain that will provide.
“If the criminal complaint has merit, they pay a maximum fine, let’s say $10,000 per complaint,” he said. “They pay $30,000 and continue doing the same thing they’re doing now.”
Here is a timeline of events in the case since earlier this year:
April: Newport residents may soon get their day in court with River Metals Recycling
May: Trial date set for two-year-old River Metals Recycling case
June: Trial date for two-year-old River Metals Recycling case pushed back
August: Newport, River Metals Recycling working toward agreement: ‘I think this is a significant win’
September: Pretrial conference set for October in River Metals Recycling case
October: Pretrial conference in River Metals Recycling case pushed to next month
