Odor Control Backfires, Residents Say Misting System To Combat Smell At Compost Plant Makes Problem Even Worse, Neighbors Say

A misting system that’s supposed to neutralize the stink at the Colbert compost facility is actually making things worse, angry neighbors told Spokane’s air quality board Thursday.

Some, including a city police detective, said they’d never come forward before - but are fed up with Spokane officials’ inaction.

“This was built in the wrong area. As a policeman, I can see evidence of that every day,” said Detective Craig Brenden.

The “overwhelming scent” of Odor-Gone, a deodorant misted into the air at the public compost site, makes it hard to breathe at night and permeates his family’s clothes and furniture, Brenden said.

The Colbert residents called for the plant to be moved - or completely enclosed so odors cannot continue to seep into their homes.

But the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority board offered them little hope.

Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley said SCAPCA should resume nighttime inspections of the odor problems and halt the use of Odor-Gone.

SCAPCA Director Eric Skelton said the odor patrols had proved “not very fruitful.”

Physician Charles Morrison asked Skelton why he’s not citing the plant for odor violations this year, as he did three times in 1995.

“Is there an odor problem?” Morrison asked.

“Yes,” Skelton said.

But Skelton said SCAPCA’s new approach inspecting plant operations instead of sniffing for smells in the neighborhood - is “as good as it’s going to get.”

Morrison challenged that stance. He said state law makes it illegal to control noxious smells through “odor masking.”

But Skelton said compost plant managers represent Odor-Gone as a product that causes “odor neutralization,” not “odor masking,” and that’s legal.

Damon Taam, acting director of Spokane’s Regional Solid Waste System, told the board he’s worked with facility operator O.M. Scott to try to make the misting system work.

“It’s not the silver bullet, but it has helped” reduce odors, he said.

Several residents said they are worried about health hazards from the stench and the mist wafting through their windows.

Alice Walmsley, 70, said she’s lived in the neighborhood 29 years, but never had respiratory problems until after the compost plant was built.

Now, she’s forced to use a inhaler - which she displayed to the board.

“If this keeps getting worse for me, somebody else is going to pay the bill for this,” she said.

A state Department of Health study on health impacts from the compost facility was “inconclusive,” Skelton said.

Morrison disagreed. The study found “significant” increased health problems among nearby residents, but had a small number of participants, the doctor said.

“Isn’t it time that SCAPCA gave us the same benefits of (air quality) regulations it’s giving people exposed to (grass field) burning?” Morrison said.

Colbert resident Paula Davis defended the facility. She called the compost smell “the aroma of country living.”

When pressed by facility opponents, Davis said she uses large amounts of compost from the facility to grow trees on her property.

The critics went away frustrated. Colbert is already a Superfund site because a defunct county landfill was contaminated with cancer-causing industrial chemicals.

The compost facility is the final straw, Brenden said.

“We can’t drink the water, we can’t breathe the air, but my property taxes have tripled,” he said. “It’s time to fight. I want to live in the country and enjoy fresh air.”

, DataTimes