Carthage mayor to call for stricter state ‘stink’ rules w/ Odor Workgroup Report and proposals

By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — “Renewable Environmental Solutions has become our problem.”

That’s what Carthage Mayor Jim Woestman will tell the Missouri Air Conservation Commission when it meets today to hear recommendations on proposed changes to air-quality rules.

Woestman previously attended meetings of an Odor Working Group formed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The state panel was formed about six months ago to look at possible changes in odor rules. Its recommendations are being forwarded to the commission.

Representatives of a number of businesses and organizations that have been the focus of odor complaints were among those named to the panel, which also included Brian Appel, developer of the RES technology and president of the company that converts poultry byproducts into fuel oil.

Appel could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Woestman said he wants to ensure that Carthage’s perspective is heard by the commission — the state’s rule-making body on the issue.

Woestman said he plans to tell the commission that Carthage “has been dealing with major stink problems for a few years.”

“I’m calling it a stink — not an odor — because that’s what it is,” he said. “RES has done things that have helped, but it hasn’t solved it. It can still make you lose your appetite.”

Woestman said he will urge the commission to revise the state’s odor dilution standard to 2-1 when it is used to measure odors in populated areas. He said he would have no objection to the current 7-to-1 dilution standard if it is used in rural areas, but said he believes more protections are needed where there are more people.

“We think the stricter dilution would do that,” he said. “We won’t want to dictate to other regions, and want RES to be successful. But the changes they’ve made haven’t solved the problem, and our quality of life is being affected.”

Woestman’s preference is in line with a recommendations from the Sierra Club and the Missouri attorney general’s office, both of which support a stricter dilution standard. The Sierra Club also recommended that state rules be expanded to apply to more concentrated animal feeding operations. Currently, odor rules apply only to the largest operations and require second-round tests by an out-of-state lab to confirm the findings.

Members of the odor group, including representatives of Premium Standard Farms and other agricultural interests, are recommending no changes in current rules, particularly as they apply to CAFOs.

The commission at each meeting also gets a report on odor complaints received by the Department of Natural Resources. The panel at today’s session will have before it reports showing 16 complaints received in a monthlong period ending June 15 attributed to odors from RES or other plants in the industrial bottoms area in Carthage.