The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Carthage, Jasper County

Discussion

August 24, 2008

Carthage odor focus of meeting today

By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Odor problems that trigger complaints but not state citations will be the issue at a meeting today among state and city officials, and representatives of industries in the Carthage industrial bottoms.

The session was organized by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and is aimed at “seeing what we can do to try to move forward on fixing any remaining odor problems” from that area, said Leanne Tippett Mosby, deputy director of the DNR’s Division of Environmental Quality.

Carthage Mayor Jim Woestman said the city has the same hopes for the meeting, set for 1 p.m. at Memorial Hall.

But the two sides are coming at the issue from different perspectives: Carthage residents still are filing odor complaints with the DNR — 143 since March 1.

“The odor in the city is not acceptable,” Woestman said. “If you can’t sit on your front porch and enjoy the outdoors, it’s not acceptable. It may not be a violation, but it’s not acceptable.”

Because there have been no recent documented violations, the DNR is left “without any regulatory handles at this point,” Tippett Mosby said.

“But, because we do continue to hear concerns, we would like to assist the community in trying to solve the problem. My goal is to get the facilities and the city and the department to work together on that.”

Most often, Renewable Environmental Solutions has been identified as the suspected odor source, although residents also have attributed the smells to other industries, including the Butterball turkey plant, as well as to unknown sources. RES has denied being the source of the recent odor problems.

All companies in Carthage’s industrial bottoms, including RES and Butterball, have been invited to the session, Tippett Mosby said.

“We have confirmations from four of the five, and the mayor is helping us on the last one,” she said.

DNR officials will review odor regulations, laws and the number of complaints the department continues to receive. They also will discuss a DNR-sponsored odor study that focused on the area.

Woestman for more than a year has been attending state meetings on possible changes in odor rules, calling for a lower threshold to trigger state action.

He said the city’s concerns are shared by officials in the Missouri attorney general’s office, who also have attended the meetings. The city joined with the attorney general’s office several years ago in a lawsuit against RES that resulted in the company installing more odor-control equipment.

Missouri’s Air Conservation Commission is considering recommendations from an odor-control group impaneled by the DNR to study whether state odor rules should be changed. Though there was no consensus recommendation, the commission has discussed possible changes in the threshold that triggers a citation from the state.

Currently, odors must be detected at a 7-to-1 dilution ratio using DNR equipment that measures odors, but several members of the odor-control group called for a more stringent standard. The air commission at one point looked at a 4-to-1 dilution ratio but instead asked state officials to gather information on odor complaints at all levels, to determine at what point odor becomes a problem for nearby residents.

Preliminary information on those measures should be available in October, Tippett Mosby said.

The state panel also has discussed setting a lower threshold that would not trigger a state violation but would prompt the company to work with the state on a program to address the problem.





Lawsuit



Renewable Environmental Solutions, which converts poultry byproducts into crude oil and other materials, is the subject of a lawsuit filed a year ago by a Carthage resident. The suit argues that the plant should address its odor problems and compensate residents who have suffered from the smell.

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