Blissville chemical company in hot water

From WPIX:

Luis Rodriguez is one of four men who recently shared their inside view of Ronbar Laboratories in Long Island City.

The factory off of Van Dam Street is where Rodriguez along with Carlos Vega, Courtney Lloyd and Pedro Hernandez worked for more than a combined 40 years, until they say it just got be too much.

“I was shocked to see what was going on,” said Vega.

“In my opinion, the owner did not care,” Lloyd added. “The safety of the public, his own safety, he did not care.”

The man that Lloyd says did not care is Sheldon Borgen, the owner of Ronbar Laboratories, a company that specializes in the production of cleaning supplies. But in a civil complaint filed in Queens County Court, the former employees state that in reality Ronbar maintains a workplace riddled with incredibly dangerous violations.

The former employees allege in the complaint that the company disposed of chemicals by dumping them into open sewers and pipes. Rodriguez said that the marching orders from management were simple: You don’t like it, you can get out.

The workers are alleging there were numerous federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations that were violated. One of those alleged infractions is not only prohibited by OSHA, but the city has banned it for more than a decade.

The New York City Smoke-Free Air Act of 2002 made the act of smoking illegal for businesses housed inside of buildings, factories and warehouses. However, inside the facility where highly flammable pure alcohol is alleged to be exposed, PIX11 News obtained video of a Ronbar employee smoking on the floor of the facility.

Chemical company hitting the road

From the Daily News:

A longtime chemical storage facility in Glendale may be headed out the door.

Independent Chemical Corporation is “fully committed to moving” by early 2015, its owners told state inspectors during a July checkup that resulted in unspecified violations.

The “minor” infractions have already been addressed, according to company president Jonathan Spielman, who declined to comment on the move.

The DEC could not immediately confirm his account.

Civic leaders had asked the DEC to look into the site in June after they found chemical barrels out in the open at the facility, which is next to the site of a proposed city homeless shelter.

The Atlas Park fireworks show will go on

From the Daily News:

Civic leaders want to douse the annual Independence Day fireworks display on July 5 at the Atlas Park shopping center because they fear a spark could fly into a nearby chemical warehouse, triggering a disastrous explosion.

Robert Holden, from the Juniper Park Civic Association, and Kathy Masi of the Glendale Civic Association are asking the city to pull the permit for the popular pyrotechnics show, even though the owner of the Independent Chemical Corp. insisted there is no danger from a professional display.

James Cervino, a marine biologist who lives College Point, said the plastic drums are “vulnerable to superstorms, flooding and fire, especially if there is a fireworks show occurring in the area.”

“All it takes is one shell going awry,” he said.

Company president Jonathan Spielman said he is concerned about vandals breaking into his facility and kids playing with fireworks in the surrounding streets — but not the Atlas Park show.

Apparently the compromise is to allow the show but have HazMat on standby at the site.

Chemicals manufactured and stored behind proposed Glendale homeless shelter

From the Daily News:

More than 100 homeless families could be transferred to a former textile mill next to a chemical distributor filled with hydrocloric acid and formaldehyde, the Daily News has learned.

If the proposed shelter is approved by city officials, homeless families would be moved onto Cooper Ave. in Glendale next to the Independent Chemical Corp., which houses a witches brew of chemicals in barrels and tankers inside and outside of the building.

“The fact they are even entertaining this is mind-boggling,” said Juniper Park Civic Association Robert Holden, who showed a reporter barrels in plain sight from 79th Place. “I think that the city — whoever is in charge — never even went back there.”

The mist of hydrochloric acid is known to be corrosive to human tissue and organs.

“This is a very dangerous site,” said Holden. “You’re talking about kids sleeping 10 or 15 yards from a tanker truck filled with dangerous chemicals.”

Juniper Civic has more.