WHATELY — Baystate Blasting Inc.’s proposal to install a new silo at the Whately site that is used to store explosive materials is prompting concerns from residents and Zoning Board of Appeals members, and the ZBA intends to hire a peer reviewer to analyze the proposed structure’s risk of impact on the Aquifer Protection District.
According to land use consultant Robert Levesque, the proposed new silo to store the explosives would be 9.5 feet wide and stand at 18 feet. He described the silo and surrounding “containment tub” as a “multi-layered containment system” designed to prevent any leaks from escaping the container.
Currently, nine separate containers store the explosives at 71 Chestnut Plain Road, and “reallocating” the materials to one silo would benefit the site’s operations, Levesque said.
“One area is easier to control than multiple,” he explained during a May 7 public hearing on an amendment to Baystate Blasting’s special permit that would allow for the construction of the new silo.
The storage of ammonium nitrate fuel oil in the proposed new silo led to concern from ZBA members and residents, given its location in Whately’s Aquifer Protection District. While the site currently stores solid explosives, the new silo would contain ammonium nitrate fuel oil for the first time at the facility, along with the solid explosives.
Levesque described ammonium nitrate fuel oil as “not something you have trouble chasing; it’s something you can pick up with a shovel.”
“Even though I know what you say — that it’s thick, it’s an emulsion, you can pick it up with a shovel — the reality is it is soluble in water,” ZBA Chair Debra Carney said.
Carney described the location of the proposed silo as “probably the most environmentally sensitive parcel in town.” She added that the addition of ammonium nitrate fuel oil to the storage site could impact the ZBA’s decision on whether to approve the special permit amendment “depending on how we see the threshold of risk on the town’s aquifer.”
“I’m not trying to be a catastrophist here, except on some level I am, given where we’re talking about this business being located. … We have to take a lot of care for the environment that it’s situated in,” Carney said. “There is no other place for us to get this water.”
“The slightest amount [of ammonium nitrate fuel oil] in the environment affects people’s health and animals and our landscape,” said Michelle Kennedy-Whitney, a neighbor of an abutter. “You’re talking about farming and our water supply.”
While answering questions from Kennedy-Whitney, abutters and ZBA members, Baystate Blasting Inc. owner Dinis Baltazar said that gauges on the tanks detect leaks, any leaks “would be visible,” and the company is required to report leaks to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) within 24 hours. Although he clarified that there are often no workers at the site for two to three days, he said the company could install cameras or take steps to implement constant “physical monitoring.”
“Nobody wants an issue, nobody wants a release, especially us — we don’t want that liability, we don’t want to go through the process of dealing with the fire marshal and ATF,” Baltazar said. “If we can work together and come up with something everybody’s satisfied with, we’re open to a conversation.”
Following resident Ann Lomeli’s suggestion, the ZBA decided to pursue hiring a peer reviewer to analyze the proposed silo’s risk of impact on the Aquifer Protection District, along with other areas of the special permit.
“I think we need it,” ZBA member Roger Lipton said of the peer review.
“It gives everybody a comfort level,” added attorney Thomas Reidy, representing Baystate Blasting Inc.
The ZBA plans to discuss options for peer reviewers at the next virtual public hearing on Baystate Blasting Inc.’s special permit, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 4, at 6 p.m.
