Paver planning to build asphalt plant in Qualla

By Lisa Majors-Duff

Bryson City paving contractor Mark Fortner announced his plans to build an asphalt plant in Qualla at the April 5 meeting of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners. He asked for the board's support in his effort, explaining that the plant will be small, producing between 500 and 800 tons a day, and "nothing that people should be scared about."

But Fortner's assurances and willingness to discuss his project with his neighbors in many cases has not allayed their fears.

"We're definitely against this," said Qualla resident Harmer Weichel. "We just don't want it in our community. We have a nice area here, and we have enough noise already."

Noise is something Qualla residents have listened to and complained about for years. Their troubles started, they say, in the late 1980s, when Smoky Mountain Raceway opened for business, inviting drivers to race non-muffled cars on most weekends during the summer and early fall. The noise problem worsened, they say, two years ago when Great Smoky Mountain Helicopters set up shop, carrying sightseers over their homes as often as every 15 minutes, seven days a week.

Noise, Fortner admits, is one of the by-products of an asphalt plant, as well as dust and odor. According to a 1998 EPA study of an asphalt plant in California, emissions identified included methane, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The plant tested produced between 2,000 and 6,000 tons of asphalt a day.

"It appears to me from my quick study that perhaps the biggest factor for how much pollution is given off is what fuel is used to heat the asphalt," said Qualla resident Robert Franz. "The EPA says that 80 percent of asphalt plants in the USA use natural gas, a relatively clean fuel.

"Unfortunately, the others use diesel fuel oil, a relatively dirty fuel," he continued. "That is what is used in our area due to lack of natural gas availability. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution from an asphalt plant burning fuel oil are something like 10 times higher than the same plant burning natural gas."

"There's enough pollution in this area already," said Weichel, who added that putting an asphalt plant in Qualla will "open (the area) up to other similar businesses. And once it's there, it could easily be expanded."

"The main problem is that this plant will affect the tourism business in Cherokee," said Charles Brogan, another Qualla resident who lives within a quarter of a mile of the proposed site on U.S. 74. "Future development in the area will also be affected because nobody's going to want to live next to it."

But the noise is not what concerns Brogan most, he said.

"The noise won't be as bad as the smell," he said. "It'll smell like we're living next to a road construction project."

"After trying to educate myself about asphalt plants, I decided to call Mr. Fortner and ask him some questions about his plans," Franz said. "I have to say that he was very helpful, tried to answer all my questions, and that I was left feeling he sincerely wants to be a good neighbor.

"(Fortner) was honest enough to admit that he does not have a lot of scientific knowledge about asphalt plant pollution, but has hired an engineer to study the site, and he offered to bring his engineer to a public meeting in Qualla if local people wanted to talk about his plans," said Franz.

Talking about the plant and what neighbors can expect may be all Fortner and his engineering firm can offer those in the community. Without any form of zoning control in Jackson County, little can be done to prevent the plant, residents say.

"It would be nice if he wouldn't put it here, but it seems to be a foregone conclusion," Brogan said. "We can either live with it or sell our property and go."

"We are rapidly losing the mountains and our heritage," Weichel said. "We are defenseless against this. We should have our own rules so we can have control over our land."

"I haven't, personally, come to any conclusions about whether to fight the building of an asphalt plant in Qualla or not," Franz said. "In the process of studying the problem, I learned that North Carolina has the second largest number of paved highways per person in the country, and I remember past governors bragging about such accomplishments.

"I, personally, want less highways, less asphalt, better planned development, and I try to support those causes. But after talking to Mr. Fortner, I find it very hard to see him as any sort of villain."

Franz admitted that Fortner didn't have to announce his intentions and invite public comment, and he could probably have quietly gotten permits and built his plant whether anyone in Qualla liked it or not.

"(Fortner) appears to me to simply be trying to fill a demand created by us, the people of Western North Carolina, and even trying to be a good neighbor in the process," said Franz. "I have to wonder if I shouldn't be thankful he's only wanting to build a small plant, that he seems willing to listen to concerns, and maybe encourage him to try to maintain an option to switch to natural gas if a pipeline does come along U.S. Highway 74."

Those opposed to the asphalt plant being proposed in Qualla say they plan to appeal to county commissioners, though they know little can be done to stop it.

"I don't know anybody out here who wants it," Brogan said. "But with no zoning, it doesn't give us much choice."

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