9 Investigates: Dust from Cabarrus County business worries neighbors

HARRISBURG, NC — When the sun goes down at an office complex off University City Boulevard in Harrisburg, business owners say the machines at Galvan Industries come on.

The company works with galvanized steel, and neighbors say the process produces large quantities of a rust-colored dust that settles on roofs, cars, sidewalks, and parking lots.

Bonita Picket owns a travel business nearby and shared video with Channel 9 that shows dust at night illuminated by lights as it lifts into the air.

"It looks sort of like steam," she said. "When the dew comes down, that's when it settles on anything including the roofs of the buildings. It affects the air conditioners on top."

Rusty Burchard showed us a car he says he's hoping to sell that was covered with the dust.

"You can get it off, but you're taking some of the finish with it," he explained.

Burchard says removing the dust requires polish and elbow grease. Picket said she had he same issue and complained to Galvan, which paid to have her car detailed.

"The glass of the windshield was actually etched," she said.

Galvan has been at the location since the 1950s. We went to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality in Mooresville and found records on the dust issue going back 12 years.

After one complaint in 2006, state regulators studied the issue and found dust levels above state standards and that the dust contained zinc and iron. Galvan was fined $30,000. That was later reduced to $25,000.

Neighbors told Channel 9 they want the company to clean up its act.

"That's all I really want Galvan to do, is to keep our environment safe and clean," said Picket.

Galvan did not respond to a request for an on-camera interview. In a statement, it said it installed a state-of-the-art air handling system in 2013 that it wasn't required to have.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STATEMENT

State inspectors have looked into two complaints since 2017 and found Galvan was using "controls" to keep the dust down. But, state officials acknowledged they don't check the facility at night.

"It only happens at night, not in the daytime," said Picket. "They should be checked up on."

Inspectors say Galvan is on their radar. If Galvan industries receives another complaint, and it's substantiated by the state before August, inspectors say the company would have to come up with a corrective action plan. We also found in state records the company is already working with the state to clean up old groundwater and soil contamination, which the company says it is working "diligently" on.

Cox Media Group