[USCC] Fw: Sludge Watch ==> Knox County TN - sludge compost mixture disgustscommunity-violations

[The Rubins]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Maureen Reilly" <maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca>
To: <Sludgewatch-l at list.web.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 12:51 PM
Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Knox County TN - sludge compost mixture 
disgustscommunity-violations


> Knox County Green Waste Recycling site generates complaints, violations
>
>
> By: Kay Watson, Reporter
> 6/8/2007
>
>
>
>
> An anonymous tip prompts the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
> investigate the place where many people in Knox County take their lawn
> clippings.
>
>
>
> This week the EPA asked investigators with the Tennessee Department of
> Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to visit the Solway site that also 
> sells
> mulch.
>
> Tons of grass and trees pour in to Knox County's Green Waste Recycling
> Center.
>
> It's piled up to be composted.
>
> Trucks from Oak Ridge's Y-12 and TVA's Bull Run Steam Plant add coal ash 
> to
> the mix.
>
> The Hallsdale Powell and West Knox Utility Districts also deliver sludge, 
> or
> biosolids.
>
> The EPA defines biosolids as "nutrient-rich organic materials resulting 
> from
> the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment facility."
>
> "The material that is brought here from utility districts is rigorously
> treated material," added David Draper, the attorney for Natural Resources
> Recovery of Tennessee.
>
> Draper represents the company contracted by Knox County to run the 
> recycling
> site.
>
> He insists the mulch and its ingredients are safe and 
> government-regulated.
>
> But someone complained to the the EPA that an independent lab test of the
> mulch showed traces of fecal coliform, bacteria found in feces.
>
> Draper calls that "inaccurate." He explained that any harmful bacteria is
> killed by exposure to high temperatures in the compost piles that take
> anywhere from nine months to a year to cure.
>
> "I don't know what the anonymous complainer told the EPA," Draper said. 
> "But
> I'm telling you that when I met with TDEC officials Wednesday, they did 
> not
> indicate there's any problem with the compost."
>
> TDEC hadn't turned over its findings to the EPA Friday, and it doesn't
> expect its report to be completed for weeks.
>
> However, the state has cited Natural Resources Recovery for other
> violations.
>
> Documents show seven violations in the last five months, plus several more
> last year.
>
> Most of the 2007 violations and several in 2006 stem from composting
> material not being on "paved surfaces."
>
> Draper explained that goes back to a difference of opinion that was sorted
> out in the company's favor.
>
> In March 2007, TDEC noted a violation for "presence of nuisance odors."
>
> "Initially, it was so bad out here, you almost threw up," neighbor Lynn
> Mayes said. "You couldn't come outside. You couldn't stay outside."
>
> Mayes has been making a stink about the stink at the site behind his home
> for two years.
>
> He said he has made repeated phone calls to Knox County's Mayor, Solid 
> Waste
> Director and the site.
>
> He said the company has made changes, but there are still days his family 
> is
> overwhelmed by the odor.
>
> "The other night when we come in, my granddaughter as soon as she got out,
> she said, 'Oh, that smell,'" Mayes explained. "She held her breath, so she
> wouldn't have to smell it."
>
> Two Knox County Commissioners say they may ask the full Commission to pass 
> a
> resolution asking Mayor Mike Ragsdale to close the facility.
>
> "For some reason the community is suffering," Commissioner Greg "Lumpy"
> Lambert said. "I think it's time we get this problem fixed. We put this on
> the agenda to say it's time to get something done. If they fix the problem
> in the next couple weeks, which I fully think they could, then we may 
> remove
> this from the agenda."
>
> Draper said the recycling site is actively looking for an answer. He said
> they're hiring an odor expert to determine the exact source of the smell, 
> so
> it can be eliminated.
>
> "This facility is doing a very positive thing for the community," he
> explained. "And if it gets closed, if people really think about that for a
> second, where is all that stuff going to go? To a landfill, and that's the
> very thing that prompted us to open this in the first place."
>
>
> http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=46093
>
>
>
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