Citizen Pollution Watch

Yay for council's decision last night re: the Walnut St development, but the root cause behind the Walnut St. debacle needs attention. Otherwise, these debacles will be repeated. The root cause being a Westerville leadership culture that rewards a lack of critical thinking and questioning, and punishes the opposite.

Case in point, last night, as the Chair was proudly announcing they have heard the citizenry on the Walnut St issue, the council members returned to their familiar ways--a lack of critical thinking and ignoring citizens' concerns. After doing a deep dive into Reclamite (the road product the council was voting that night to spend some $350,000), I came to the meeting, in good faith, to help educate council members on this very concerning product.

That very day, I had found a 2017 ODOT study that concluded the very asphalt rejuvenator Westerville is going to purchase (and other 'rejuvenating' products) are neither cost effective, or, effective in extending the life of asphalt roads. I thought for sure this would elicit some questions from council members. Not a one.

That day I had also spoken to the Ohio EPA, and the agency said they had no record of this company. Big red flag. I thought this would elicit questions from council members, but, no, nothing. I had also studied the Safety Data Sheet on Reclamite, and it's very concerning. The council members turned a blind to eye to it all.

You can see my comments in full below. Let's continue to push our leaders to deal with the root cause of these debacles.

Resident Testimony (Jenny Morgan)
Vote NO on Reclamite Asphalt “Rejuvenator”
June 2, 2026

I’ve spoken many times to city council, but tonight is perhaps the most important information I’ve ever tried to communicate to you. Tonight, I am wanting to help you avoid making a $350,000-dollar financial, public health and environmental mistake with the purchasing of Reclamite, a so called “asphalt rejuvenating” product. Let me get right to the 5 reasons why you should vote NO tonight on this issue.

The first reason to vote NO:

In 2017 ODOT conducted a study entitled: Effectiveness of Asphalt Penetrating Sealers in Extending New Asphalt Pavement Life. On pg. 94 one can read the Conclusions and Recommendations. As to whether or not it is cost effective, the authors write this: Based on 4 years of monitoring using the ODOT distress surveys, the answer is NO, it was not cost effective. The authors also concluded that the use of penetrating sealers on newly placed HMA will NOT extend the service life of the HMA wearing surface.

I can’t imagine residents want you to spend $350,000 on a product that has these ODOT test results. For this reason, alone, you should vote NO tonight on this issue, and NO on any kind of hydro-carbon asphalt “rejuvenator” in the future. Other cities do NOT use it, such as Bexley. Westerville should follow suit.

The second reason you should vote NO:

In the same ODOT study the authors studied something called road skid resistance. This section is about the friction and safety issues related to Reclamite-like products. According to the ODOT study, products like Reclamite caused a loss of skid resistance even up to 30 days after treatment. The authors go on to say that this loss of skid resistance limits the use of these asphalt products to low-speed, low-volume rural routes.

So, two points:
One, I would NOT call our Westerville streets low volume. Low volume would be 400 cars or less. County Line Rd has an annual average daily traffic rate of 14,000…Africa Rd = 4600, W Schrock = 21,000, Rt 3 = 16,700, Main = 10,800, N spring = 5600, Huber R = 5800, etc.

And two, I know Westerville does not close Reclamite treated roads for more than 30 days. In fact, if memory serves, treated roads are only closed for a day or two. I’m certain you don’t want to close any treated roads for more than 30 days, and I’m certain you don’t want any resulting accidents on your conscience. These friction and safety issues warrant a NO vote tonight.

The third reason to vote NO tonight on Reclamite: From my research, I believe Pavement Technology manufactures its Reclamite at D&D Emulsions, Inc. in Mansfield. D&D is a partner to Pavement Technology. Reclamite is a hydrocarbon-based product. It also contains < 5% of proprietary ingredients. With this said, the Ohio EPA seemingly has no information on D&D Emulsions or Pavement Tech Inc, no permits on file.

From my deep dive thus far, there’s no way, in my opinion, this Co., dealing with hydrocarbons and more, doesn’t need an Ohio EPA PTIO, an air permit, an NPDES water permit, and probably hazmat waste permits as well. Why does the Ohio EPA not have any documents on this Co.? Why did the OEPA-NW Rep that I called this morning not even know about the Co.?

As someone that has researched such things for more than 15 years, there are some major red flags here. It’s very concerning and warrants you to vote NO on this issue tonight. Number 4 tonight warrants a NO vote, if not a long-lasting NO, at least a NO until we can find out why this Co. seemingly is not on the OEPA’s radar.

The fourth reason why you should vote NO tonight on Reclamite?
The SAFETY DATA SHEET.

As you know, Tricor, out of California, is the mother ship of this product. Pavement Technology Inc, I think, just licenses the specs so they can manufacture Reclamite in Mansfield.
Tricor’s Safety Data Sheet says Reclamite contains polycyclic aromatic compounds…and that prolonged and/or repeated skin contact with certain PACs has been shown to cause skin cancer. Prolonged and/or repeated exposures by inhalation of certain PACs may also cause cancer of the lungs and of other sites of the body

The SDS also includes information about Reclamite’s make up, and how it contains, among other horrendous things,