Stink Citations Issued To Composting Plant Violations Of Clean Air Act Are Second And Third For Facility
Air quality regulators under orders to sniff daily around the Colbert composting plant have issued two more citations for bad smells.
Notices of the Clean Air Act violations were sent Aug. 4 and 6 to officials at Spokane’s regional garbage authority.
The odor-plagued composting plant has been cited three times in the past 90 days. The city was fined $250 for the first violation, over the Memorial Day weekend.
“These were times where the odor was strong enough to constitute an unreasonable interference with property,” said Eric Skelton, Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority director.
The most recent violations occurred when foul odors wafted into a residential neighborhood after a compost turning machine broke down.
“When they got the turner fixed and started in again, a lot of strong odors were released,” Skelton said.
On other August evenings, the odors have varied from mild to unpleasant, according to SCAPCA inspection reports.
The most recent inspection for which a report was available, on Sunday, didn’t result in a citation. But the inspector concluded the “unpleasant” odors of decomposing grass “were directly impacting the neighborhood west of Highway 2.”
Meanwhile, complaints from Colbert residents continue to pour into the SCAPCA office.
A total of 46 new complaints in August brings the approximate number this year to 1,500. Some are repeat calls from the same residences.
The volume of angry phone calls prompted action earlier this month from Spokane County Commissioners Phil Harris and Steve Hasson.
The commissioners, who also serve on the SCAPCA board, voted Aug. 3 to order the air regulators to monitor the plant and report to neighbors daily through August.
On Aug. 7, the Spokane City Council voted 4-2 to end the contract with O.M. Scott and Sons, which has run the plant for two years. But Councilmen Joel Crosby and Chris Anderson have vowed to bring the issue back for reconsideration Aug. 28.
Phil Williams, director of the regional garbage authority, wants to try Odor-Gone, a $40,000 misting system, to help scrub smells from the air at the $2 million plant.
Meanwhile, the battle of the noses continues.
Crosby and Anderson visited the facility on Aug. 8 and pronounced the smells inoffensive. “It does not smell at all,” Crosby said.
But on that same night, a SCAPCA inspector said he detected “mild manure odors, similar to odors from a stockyard.”
Crosby “must have had a clothespin on his nose that night,” said Elizabeth Kelley of Concerned Citizens of Colbert, a group formed to fight the plant.”The City Council should keep it closed,” she said. “The use is incompatible with the area.”
, DataTimes