Commissioners Want Closer Monitoring Of Stink Complaints Plentiful Over Colbert Compost Site, But Citations Aren’t - And A Bullet Is Fired As Neighbors’ Already Thin Patience Frays
Spokane County commissioners want Spokane’s air quality cops to sniff harder around the odor-plagued Colbert compost facility.
In a letter sent Thursday, they asked the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority to report daily to adjacent property owners.
The continuing stench on hot summer nights has raised tempers in the neighborhoods near the facility along Elk-Chattaroy Road. On Wednesday, a bullet pierced the cab of a plant operator’s vehicle at the compost plant.
The operator was not injured and there are no suspects, said a Spokane County sheriff’s official.
A day after the shooting, commissioners sent their directive to SCAPCA, saying they’ve received 1,500 complaints.
“This has been going on for two years now. I feel sick nearly every night from the odors. We shouldn’t have to live like this,” said Delfina Rutledge, whose house is about 300 yards from the plant.
Commissioners want Spokane’s regional garbage authority, which built the $2 million facility in partnership with O.M. Scott & Sons of Ohio, to pay for the stepped-up inspections.
Regional Solid Waste Director Phil Williams said commissioners don’t have legal authority to demand payment from his agency, which operates under a city-county agreement.
“It’s not part of our responsibility to pay for that,” Williams said.
But commissioners want action.
“As the intensity of these complaints mounts, we grow concerned - wondering why no further violations have been noted,” they wrote.
SCAPCA Director Eric Skelton was out of the office Friday and unavailable for comment.
Residents near the plant who formed Concerned Citizens of Colbert are trying to shut the facility down, complaining that the smell from rotting compost is intolerable.
“Our patience is running short,” said Mike Barcelo, chairman of Concerned Citizens of Colbert.
The group plans to challenge the plant’s zoning and will probably file a nuisance suit, said Barcelo, treasurer of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co.
After a rash of complaints over the hot Memorial Day weekend, the air authority cited the plant for foul odors.
Fines under the Clean Air Act could have run as high as $10,000 a day, but SCAPCA decided on a small fine: $250.
On June 19, the Spokane City Council gave O.M. Scott an ultimatum: Get rid of the stink within 30 days with no further air quality violations, or get out.
The council’s ultimatum expired on July 21.
Meanwhile, 130 new complaints were logged with the air authority since June 24. But SCAPCA hasn’t issued any new odor fines.
Despite frequent visits, agency inspectors couldn’t document odors strong enough to be considered a nuisance, Williams said.
Skelton “was up there personally on Tuesday of last week on one of the hottest evenings of the year,” Williams said.
“He was there from 8 to midnight. He told his inspectors, we can’t keep coming up here night after night.”
Neighbors are furious with Skelton’s inaction, said John Dale, a Boeing test pilot who lives in nearby North Glen Estates.
“How much longer are we going to have to put up with this? The plant has been stinking, and Skelton refuses to cite it,” Dale said.
“If one of us started a little fire and got some smoke in the air, he’d be on us, bam. But he lets this go on and on,” Dale said.
Colbert’s Concerned Citizens group strongly disapproves of this week’s shooting, said founder Charlie Adams.
“I have concerns for (operator) Mark Jones and for the workers over there… We don’t like the smell, but we’re not going to hurt anybody to get rid of it,” he said.
Because of the shooting and the continuing odor complaints, the compost plant will be discussed at Monday’s Spokane City Council meeting, Williams said.
The Colbert neighbors will be there, Rutledge said.
“I invite Phil Williams to spend a whole summer next to this plant, with his kids and wife. It’s been absolutely terrible in the last 30 days,” she said.
, DataTimes