Weyerhaeuser issues apology for stench

TOUTLE, Wash. – A Weyerhaeuser Co. official has apologized to residents of this small southwest Washington town for the putrid smell from a company landfill.

Residents of Toutle say the landfill smells like a mixture of flatulence and raw eggs, and has stunk up the town for two years. Some are linking the bad odor to migraines and other ills, and have demanded officials test water and air quality.

Weyerhaeuser used its landfill, located just outside the town, to dump chicken feathers, wall board and bacterial sludge. The company said it has stopped depositing those materials at that landfill, and has installed an air scrubber and flare to capture and burn off hydrogen sulfide coming from the decomposing materials.

“I’m truly sorry. We try to be good neighbors,” Mike Karnofski, a Weyerhaeuser regional services manager, told a crowd of 50 Toutle-area residents gathered at the local high school on Tuesday.

A Weyerhaeuser official said the company received waste, such as the chicken feathers, from other companies, but now has stopped doing that. The bacterial sludge came from the company’s pulp operations.

But some residents said the company’s efforts are not enough, and Cowlitz County officials said they would contact the state Health Department to look at the possibility of testing the area.

“Our main problem is that we cannot find anyone who wants to tell us what the reading of the air is in the valley,” said local resident Chet Gardner, who said he’s been getting migraines and thinks pollution is the cause.

Brian Wood, an environmental health and safety manager for Weyerhaeuser, said there is some indication the levels of gas generated by the decomposing materials is dropping. He also said the company is using tarps and liners to trap the gas and keep materials from leaking into the groundwater.

“I don’t expect it to get any worse,” he said. “I expect it to get better.”