James and Vicki Maestas are fed up. For more than two years, they've watched clouds of sawdust bloom into the air from Western Excelsior's plant and settle on their lawn, some 50 yards away. The dust, three-quarters of an inch thick at times, has all but killed their grass. It also filled up crevices in the white rock garden they built to honor their deceased daughter. It's an recurring problem, the couple says, and they want it fixed.
The Maestas couple is not alone. A handful of residents addressed the Mancos Town Board last week about their grievances with Western Excelsior. Local business unit manager Kyle Hanson tried to defuse tension and reinforce the company's image as a good neighbor. He said management is committed to building trust.
"When you think of Western, think of a group of people, not a corporate evil or some faceless thing," Hanson said.
The audience was a tough sell.
Bernadette Tuthill has lived on Riverside Avenue, the street next to Western Excelsior, for six years. She says the dust problem has grown worse during that time.
"Sometimes when you go out the door, you get dust in your eyes," Tuthill said, adding that sawdust regularly fills up water dishes she leaves outside for her pets, as well as filtering into her mailbox and settling on her garden. It coats the roof of her home and her car like a yellowish snowfall.
Tom Nunn, a newcomer to Mancos, was equally unhappy.
"It's rough on your lungs, not to mention the unsightliness is annoying," he said Monday. "Approach the plant from the west side and look up at the (silo). If it's running, it's spewing dust. There's a great big opening, just pumping dust into the air."
Nunn wasn't impressed by Hansen's presentation, labeling it a "dog-and-pony show."
"I'm skeptical anything will happen. I think our options now are to bug the EPA and bug our congressman," he said.
James Maestas said Western Excelsior has taken steps to remove the sawdust but called them "Band-Aid solutions."
Workers have twice come to his yard to manually scrape the sawdust off, for example. However the dust was too fine for the rakes.
"You can't just rake it like leaves," he said.
So last week they returned with a motorized rake pulled behind a four-wheeler.
"It doesn't bother me that (Western Excelsior) is here. But if my trash was blowing into their yard, they wouldn't like it either. I hope they work with us to find a solution," Maestas said.
Hanson, with the company for about a year, said Western Excelsior has made $1 million in plant improvements since 2000, most of them since 2006.
"I'd love the chance to visit with each of you personally. Let's go to lunch. I can assuage your fears (that) there's a nameless entity out there trying to hurt our community," he said.
Mayor Rachael Simbeck asked Hanson if he could do a study to see why so much dust is escaping, and what can tangibly be done to stop it.
"I'd like specific outcomes and measurements of success," she said.
Hanson, with caveats that a permanent solution is not ready-made, said he'd report back to the Town Board on July 10.
The Western Excelsior plant employs about 120 people in Mancos. Hanson once again tried to dispel the stubborn, long-held impression that Western Excelsior still makes matchsticks. The company's current line of products include soil filtration rolls and erosion blankets - some made of aspen wood and coconut fiber and some from synthetic materials.
Hanson said Western Excelsior is not a profit-at-all-costs company, and pointed to the bottom line as proof. Last year, he said, on a revenue of $34 million, Western Excelsior brought in a $453,000 profit. Executives are gearing up for a major production push, and by the end of 2016 want $4.6 million in profit on $46 million revenue.
