After months of silence, Newport residents say explosions coming from River Metals Recycling have started again.
This week, residents reported two explosions, one on Dec. 3 and one on Dec. 4, at the metal recycling facility commonly referred to as RMR.
“It would be humorous if it weren’t so sad,” Newport Commissioner Ken Rechtin said. “It is sad that they are able to control this [explosions] and over the past couple of days have either decided not to or the controls aren’t in place.”
RMR signed an agreement with Newport on Feb. 20 this year that said it has a year to move its shredding operations out of the city. That means by Feb. 20, 2025, RMR will be doing its primary shredding operations at the former Garden Street Iron & Metal based in Cincinnati, which they acquired in 2023.
Rechtin said RMR has not provided the city with any updates on the progress of installing the pre-shredder at its Cincinnati site.
More information on the agreement and the events leading up to its signing can be found here.
Though the company has until next year to move its shredding operations, Rechtin said they are still violating city noise ordinances with the blasts.
“With that explosion, they in my mind have violated not the order, they have violated our law again,” Rechtin said. “Being a nuisance to our people, and they have violated our noise ordinance.”
Rechtin said he has been discussing with city leadership what actions they can take against the recycling facility. He said Newport staff had contacted attorneys from RMR to determine what was happening.
“River Metals Recycling takes very seriously the brief, sporadic combustion events that are an infrequent but unavoidable part of metals recycling operations,” said Regional General Manager, RMR Neal Coulardot. “We have done significant work to prevent such events. RMR has added personnel and reduced throughput at our Newport facility this year to improve our ability to detect the typical causes of combustion events and reduce or prevent them from occurring.”
Coulardot said RMR has reduced the times that the shredder operates to accommodate neighbors and per the agreement with the city, they remain on schedule to relocate shredding operations away from the Newport facility to the new facility in Cincinnati. Despite the two recent events, Coulardot said these efforts have been effective.
After Feb. 20, RMR will operate the Newport site for sorting materials; however, part of the agreement states that if the Cincinnati facility temporarily exceeds its capacity, RMR can use the Newport facility no more than 75 days in a 12-month period.
“There’s just so many loopholes in that agreement, it’s detrimental to the residents, given RMR’s continued neglectful operations,” said Newport resident and Chair of the RMR Citizen’s Group Annette Kitchen.
Kitchen pointed to item three on a fact sheet distributed by RMR Vice President and General Manager Bob Eviston in April. That fact sheet can be viewed in full here.
The item states, “Claim: RMR is no longer trying to prevent combustion events at its Newport facility. False: What is true is that after entry of the Order, pre-shredding inspection remained the same until recently when RMR added resources and reduced throughput in an effort to reduce the incidence of combustion events. We are looking forward to discussing these and other changes at our proposed meeting with city officials.”
“What have they done or not done in these past two days based upon this fact sheet their vice president and general manager sent that showed that they added resources,” Kitchen said. “Well, those resources failed.”
Kitchen said she has notified the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency District 4 in Atlanta, which is working with residents on a federal EPA air quality study.
Newport resident Jeff Zemanek captured a “blue cloud” of particulate smoke on video after each explosion. The aftermath of the Dec. 4 explosion can be viewed below.
Newport residents and groups like the Northern Kentucky Sierra Club are continuing efforts to improve air quality, such as installing air quality monitors around Newport. The Sierra Club and ReNewport have placed 24 sensors around the city. In addition to the ongoing air quality testing, other efforts include working with Northern Kentucky University on soil testing near the RMR facility.
“There’s no reason this continues other than their lack of oversight,” Rechtin said. “It’s unacceptable to even allow this to happen once a year. This is not right. The citizens surrounding them deserve better.”
