SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Barrio Logan residents have been complaining about the fumes from the New Leaf Biofuel plant for years. But in a hearing Thursday, the San Diego Air Pollution Control District says it's getting better.
New Leaf Biofuel turns cooking oil into a fuel, a process neighbors blame for persistent smells throughout Barrio Logan.
The Air Pollution Control District has been cracking down on the plant after years of complaints and health code violations, so the company rolled out an odor reduction system in 2022.
Some of the changes include increased ventilation, sealing off doors and processing less used cooking oil.
Thursday, officials from the district said the plant has fully complied with demands to reduce odors, and they're seeing fewer complaints. So far this year, the district notes just eight complaints.
Peter Colon has lived in Barrio Logan for a decade, and he says some of those complaints came from him as recently as this week.
The San Diego Air Pollution Control District says it's only found "faint" odors near the plant this year, but residents like Colon beg to differ.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're not passing unless you never smell that odor again," said Colon. "But that's not the case today."
Colon says the smell has improved over the past couple years, but it's still bad enough for him to worry about his health.
According to a 2021 study by the State's Office for Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the Barrio Logan area has higher rates of asthma than nearly any other neighborhood in the state.
The cause, though, is undetermined.
"I don't even go out in the air like that anymore. Because I don't feel like it's a safe environment to be in with that type of odor," said Colon. You don't know what's in the odor. The only way that smell and the odor problem is gonna go away is if they go away. And I don't see that happening."
The San Diego Air Pollution Control District recommends the New Leaf Biofuel plant keeps operating with its odor control systems.
