Foul odor may shut down Orangeburg plastic company

Residents and plant workers packed the Orangetown Town Hall Monday night for a meeting on whether to revoke a permit for the Aluf Plastics Co. in Orangeburg.
The zoning board of appeals called the meeting to go over a new report from the town's building inspector that found the plastics company to be violating performance standards.
For the past two years, residents have complained about the odor coming from the Aluf facility, and they say it's time to come up with a solution to the problem. But if the town revokes Aluf's operating permit, the company's employees would all be out of jobs.
In the report, the Office of Building Zoning, Planning, Administration and Enforcement said inspectors found multiple violations in the area around the plant between last November and this month.
"What we want to happen is just we want Aluf to be a good neighbor," says Elizabeth Dudley, of Orangeburg. "We want the odors mitigated."
Aluf's attorney argues that the town is violating the company's due process rights by not giving it time to respond to the new violations. He also says Aluf has invested $500,000 to install a new ventilation system to fix the problem.
Some people who spoke to News 12 say they don't want the facility shut down, but they want the problem fixed. 
"Maybe there's a way that they can work this out because I don't want people to lose their jobs either," says resident Rachel Moss.
At the meeting, officials made no decision on the permit. They considered hiring a consultant to inspect Aluf's new ventilation system and to see what else could be done to fix the air problems.