River Metals Recycling Faces Legal Action Over Explosions

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The City of Newport filed criminal complaint against River Metals Recycling over explosions at the facility in violation of the city’s noise ordinance. There have been repeated complaints by neighboring residents against the company’s operations.

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According to Tom Fromme, Newport City Manager, it has received numerous complaints with regards to explosions that occur at the scrap metal recycling company premises. The City has been working with the company towards improving the quality of life of nearby residents. The prolonged investigation of the situation revealed that the explosions at the facility violated the city’s zoning ordinance within the past 30 days, forcing it to file charges against the company, he noted.

It must be noted that the company had constructed a $300,000 sound barrier around its shredder in September last year, in order to mitigate the impacts of explosions.

Reacting to the new development, Neal Coulardot, General Manager, River Metals Recycling said that three of the four alleged violations had occurred prior to construction of the sound barrier. The complaint does not describe how the violation was determined. Furthermore, he called the complaint disappointing.

As per City records, a total of 19 explosions have been reported after the sound barrier was built.