Century Acquisitions (CA), and its parent company Bonded Concrete, two large New York-based corporations, plan to add hot mix asphalt (HMA) production to existing concrete and stone operations in Sheffield, MA by building an enormous facility with a 55-foot stack. NADF is a group of community volunteers who came together to educate the community about the health, economic and environmental impacts of this prospective HMA plant and to fight its development. CA’s own consultants estimate that emissions from the plant would increase fine particle (PM2.5) concentrations in the air above the danger level established by the American Lung Association. Hundreds of community health studies have linked increases in PM2.5 pollution to reduced lung function, increased asthma symptoms, missed school days, increased emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and premature death. Many health and environmental organizations believe PM2.5 air pollution is the most significant environmental health threat facing the nation, especially for infants, children, senior citizens, and people with heart or lung disease. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says there is no safe level for PM2.5. In addition, CA’s own consultants have shown that its proposed plant would more than double the neighborhood noise level, in violation of MA law. In terms of environmental impact, a new HMA plant would reduce visibility, increase acidity of local waters, reduce soil nutrients, stress trees and crops, and damage historic buildings and monuments. A larger CA industrial complex is inconsistent with the master plans of all surrounding towns. Over the last 10 years, CA has violated environmental laws in New York and Massachusetts, and damaged natural resources in Connecticut. When CA purchased the Sheffield Connecticut Sand and Stone plant in May 2001, that plant had already exhausted all permitted surface mining, and had only small stone crushing and batch concrete operations. CA has since doubled its stone crushing production, and quadrupled concrete production. The company never obtained required approvals from MA Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), operating its concrete operations in violation of the law. CA also mined beyond permitted boundaries without consulting the Sheffield Conservation Commission or the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. In October 2008, when CA approached the MassDEP in a first attempt to obtain approval for the proposed HMA plant, estimates presented by CA to the public were shown to be wildly misleading. In November 2000, Troy Sand and Gravel, a Bonded Concrete-operated HMA plant in West Sand Lake, NY, entered into a consent decree with the NY Department of Environmental Conservation that assessed the company $75,000 in civil penalties for violations of the Environmental Conservation Law. In July 2002 they were fined $10,000 for violating two conditions of their mining permit. In July 2009, the Pittsfield Conservation Commission issued a MassDEP enforcement order against Bonded Concrete for discharging toxic concrete wash waters to the ground without permission. In October 2009, MassDEP fined the CA – Sheffield Facility $25,500 for illegally operating a concrete operation, discharging toxic concrete wash waters to the ground without permission, and damaging the Konkapot riverfront and wetlands. Neighbors whose properties abut CA’s operations have been living with intolerable fugitive dust and noise pollution for 3 years. NADF is attempting to address these existing conditions while fighting the proposed new HMA plant. Going Forward NADF seeks to provide an understanding to the community at large of how an HMA plant would impact quality of life and health in the Housatonic Valley region, and to take legal action to prevent this development. Following is a general outline of the strategy that NADF has mapped out to engage and mobilize the community and to mount a legal challenge to CA’s HMA operation. CA has submitted its application to the MassDEP for a permit to build and operate the HMA plant. Our initial intervention is to submit a comment letter, from our attorney, to MassDEP before or shortly after the CA application is deemed complete by MassDEP. This letter will present our concerns and technical analysis to challenge CA’s application. We will also aim to convince DEP that CA has failed to assess the true background noise level at the closest neighboring properties to the crusher operation (the source of most of the existing plant’s noise), and instead chose a site farthest from the crusher site, in order to arrive at a falsely high background level to use as the baseline for determining how much noise the CA operation is inflicting on the neighborhood. NADF, through our attorney, is having a noise expert conduct a record review, and, if funding permits, we will hire the noise expert to conduct our own noise assessment. Once the issue is brought to light, the hope is that DEP will force CA to conduct its own testing at the neighbors’ properties, or perhaps the DEP will do the testing. It is believed that it will become clear that CA cannot possibly come under the 10dBA sound difference between true background (performed correctly with no plant activities operating) and the projected future sound level with the crushing, concrete and HMA operations functioning simultaneously. This action could effectively terminate CA’s HMA effort; even the crushing and concrete operations will be under question. In order to pressure the DEP to respond appropriately to the comment letter, we are beginning to reach out to media (newspapers, radio, local newsletters). We are also contacting senators, congressmen, attorneys general and governors of MA and CT, informing them about the dangers of the proposed plant to the economy, environment and health of the region and asking that they write to the DEP, to request that CA’s application be scrutinized and to insist on a proper sound analysis at the neighbors’ properties. NADF is also in the process of organizing a Community Meeting in Sheffield, scheduled for May 12, where a neighbor (President of NADF), a physician/environmental health expert (Treasurer of NADF) and a well-respected local businessman (NADF volunteer), will educate attendees about the potential dangers and minimal benefits (e.g., the highly automated HMA plant would only create three new jobs) of the proposed plant. This meeting will be the official launch of the Sheffield Get Loud campaign. Attendees will be asked to write to MassDEP and express their concern about the plant. If the initial MassDEP intervention fails, we will then implement a Canaan Get Loud campaign and perhaps expand to other towns. If the initial intervention process is not successful in stopping the HMA project, NADF will need to file an internal appeal (for an adjudicatory hearing) with the DEP (at an estimated cost of $50,000 in legal fees). If this fails, an external appeal to the MA Supreme Court will require an estimated $20,000 in additional fees. There are also local strategies (e.g., with the Sheffield Zoning Planning Board) that we can undertake if needed. We are hopeful that NADF’s initial intervention process, at a cost of $15,000 ($2,000 retainer, $10,000 legal fees, $3,000 sound expert if possible), will convince the MassDEP to prevent CA from moving forward with its HMA plant.