Residents in the village of Nu’uuli were complaining about dust emitted from the Silva rock quarry.
The Department of Health went out to the site earlier this week and issued Silva Construction with a cease operation order to stop crushing rocks during windy conditions as that is part of the terms of their Air Quality permit that was issued by the American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency.
According to DOH, despite the order, Silva continued crushing rocks.
DOH then informed ASEPA who went to the construction site on Friday and issued a shutdown order to the company for breaking the conditions of the permit, specifically that it nit operate during windy weather.
ASEPA said that Silva breached another term of the Air Quality permit by not using enough water to suppress the dust emitted from the rock crushing so it does not blow into neighboring areas.
In speaking with Silva owner Jacinta Silva, she confirmed that ASEPA visited their site last week, and that moving forward they will use a sprinkler system to water the rocks they crush to minimize dust ups.
Silva pointed out the windy weather last week contributed to the surplus dust and also said that the dirt road leading to their quarry also kicked up much dust in the Nu’uuli village area.
The company owner added that they are not the only construction company in that location that crushes rocks.
