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.