By Alexandra Nicolas
Special to The Globe
CARTHAGE, Mo.- —
Carthage resident Tim Jeffries said he doesn’t have any faith that Renewable Environmental Solutions will follow through on promises to operate odor-free if and when it reopens.
“Zero (faith), absolutely, flat-line zero,” he said. “From past experience, anything they made as far as promises, it never really made a significant difference.”
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, City Administrator Tom Short said he and former Mayor Jim Woestman had met recently with Jim Crum, RES general manager, to discuss the plant’s possible reopening. According to Short, Crum said RES will be able to operate without creating any odor problems.
Should RES reopen its doors, it would be converting used cooking oil and grease instead of animal byproducts, according to Short.
“We won’t have the odor,” Crum said Wednesday. “We’ll be an absolutely great neighbor.”
But Jeffries, a computer consultant who describes himself as living downwind of the plant, said he remembers not being able to work or play outside because of the “foul odor” from RES when it was converting turkey byproducts into a biodiesel alternative and other marketable products.
Jeffries said he isn’t looking forward to dealing with RES again, even with a changed feedstock.
“It would be extremely disappointing,” he said. “I’m very skeptical as to their being able to do better than they have in previous years as to not polluting Carthage’s air quality.
“We’ll miss being able to have barbecues.”
Permits
Crum said Wednesday that he understands the skepticism of Carthage residents.
“There is work we’ll need to do,” he said. “I want the opportunity to show them we’ll be a good neighbor and a good industry.”
Crum said he would provide more information, including what RES will be refining, when it gets closer to opening.
He said the plant could be resuming operations anywhere between “now and six months.”
Asked about the permits needed to operate, Crum said: “We’re still good. We’ve maintained all needed permits.”
Larry Archer, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, acknowledged the company’s existing permits, but he said any changes the company makes to its production procedure may require some modification of those permits.
RES has made no secret that it hopes to reopen. That possibility was discussed last summer during a meeting between Woestman and Crum.
Background
The plant was shut down and about 50 workers lost their jobs in March 2009, just before Changing World Technologies, the RES parent company, filed for bankruptcy protection, citing debt and other financial problems.
Brian Appel, owner of Changing World Technologies, said after the bankruptcy filing that he hoped to reopen the Carthage plant. He said last summer that it would use grease and oil in the conversion procedure rather than poultry byproducts.
The plant had been a source of odor complaints since it opened in the spring of 2004. Its relationship with the city was punctuated by lawsuits, and citations and fines from the Department of Natural Resources. At one point, former Gov. Matt Blunt ordered the plant closed until it could control the odors.
In 2005, the city joined the Missouri attorney general’s office in filing a public-nuisance lawsuit. The action was settled, and RES installed a thermal oxidizer and other odor-control equipment that company officials said addressed the problem. But complaints continued, and the city of Carthage lobbied the state to impose stricter odor rules.
The company maintained then that it was not the source of odors.
The RES plant also is the subject of a lawsuit filed by two Carthage residents who contend that the company was negligent in allowing odor problems. The suit, seeking class-action status that would compensate those who have been affected by odors from RES, was stayed as a result of the bankruptcy filing.
Cynthia Sundy, one of the plaintiffs, declined to comment on the possibility of RES reopening, noting that the lawsuit is still pending.
“It hasn’t ended; it’s just in limbo,” Sundy said.
New mayor
Mike Harris, who was unopposed in the April 6 election, was sworn in Tuesday night as Carthage mayor. The City Council elected Councilwoman Diane Sharits as mayor pro tem.
