Jeannette residents call for hemp plant closure

Jeannette residents asked City Council on Thursday to keep the hemp drying facility on Thomas Avenue closed permanently.

“I don’t know how this happened. Why was this allowed to come into the city?” Diane Shaw asked.

Shaw lives on Lafferty Street, near the facility owned by Colorado-based Patriot Shield LLC.

At Thursday’s council meeting, she presented city leaders with a petition containing 59 signatures, asking for the permanent closure of the plant.

Shaw and other residents said they’ve been suffering from respiratory problems, allergies and other ailments, and they believe the plant is to blame.

“For weeks (my wife) was short of breath,” said Robert Tirpak, who lives on Welker Street.

Lawrence D. Kerr is a lawyer for FC Meyer Packaging, which shares the warehouse where Patriot Shield operates.

“My client is at ground zero. We’re inside the warehouse; we didn’t get warned either. Our workers have to breath that,” he said.

Patriot Shield Chief Operating Officer Tyler Dickinson said the plant was not the cause of residents’ health problems.

“(Volatile organic compound) emissions have been calculated and are not enough to create a health concern,” he said.

Residents have been complaining about the strong marijuana-like smell coming from the hemp-drying facility since it opened in September.

The odor gets into the packaging FC Meyer makes, and it’s impossible to get out, Kerr said.

“If we ship the boxes and it stinks like burning leaves, it’s going to get kicked back,” he said.

FC Meyer spent $13,000 on an air-quality study, which Kerr shared with Jeannette Council. According to the study, “the odor generated by the hemp processing has negatively impacted (FC Meyer’s) merchandise.”

Jeannette officials said Patriot Shield opened without an occupancy permit. The city issued a temporary permit but ordered the facility to stop operations last month because of the odor complaints.

Officials rescinded the order a few days later, saying they were working with Patriot Shield to resolve the problem, but issued another cease-and-desist as complaints continued.

The state Department of Environmental Protection issued its own order last week, prohibiting the company from operating until it resolved the odor issues and acquired DEP permits.

In October, employees started protesting, saying they had not been paid in weeks. They still have not received checks. The federal Department of Labor is investigating.

Jeannette solicitor Tim Witt said Patriot Shield and the city have been in touch, hashing out the details of what the facility would need to do to reopen.

Mayor Curtis Antoniak said he agrees with the residents who spoke Thursday and wants the facility to remain closed.

“I believe the people are correct,” he said. “I’m very happy we were the first to file a cease and desist.”