Missouri preparing more sensitive odor-testing equipment

CARTHAGE, Mo. -- As lawmakers consider a bill to get tough on smells from a southwest Missouri plant that turns turkey parts into fuel oil, state officials are preparing more sensitive odor-testing equipment.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is modifying its equipment that checks odors to register at rates lower than the 7-to-1 threshold that now triggers regulatory action by the state, said Rebecca Birke, a spokeswoman for the agency's Air Pollution Control Program. The Missouri Air Conservation Commission will use the information as part of its review of odor rules.

Once the equipment is ready, the department's inspectors will use it in odor investigations and collect additional information on when a violation would occur at lower levels, Birke said.

The Air Conservation Commission is reviewing proposed rules that would retain 7-to-1 as the threshold for a violation but would establish a nonpunitive 4-to-1 threshold that would trigger a requirement for a site to work with the Department of Natural Resources to address the problem.

The commission also will look at work by Don Wright, of Texas-based Microanalytics Inc., who studied odors in Carthage's industrial bottoms under a contract with the Department of Natural Resources.

The review comes as the Legislature considers a bill that could force the Renewable Environmental Solutions plant in Carthage to close if it is cited for repeated clean air violations in the future.

Carthage Mayor Jim Woestman has frequently cited a need for a lower odor threshold when discussing problems with the Renewable Environmental Solutions plant, which uses extreme heat and pressure to turn turkey waste such as bones, feathers and fat from nearby packing plants into oil, gas and other materials.

"I think it's positive if they're experimenting with a 6-to-1 or 5-to-1 threshold," Woestman said Friday.

Testing that includes the revised levels has not started, because state equipment has been sent back to the manufacturer for retrofitting, Birke said.

The Carthage plant has not been cited for an odor violation at or above the 7-to-1 threshold for almost two years, although residents have made many complaints to the Department of Natural Resources.

In December 2005, Gov. Matt Blunt ordered the plant to temporarily shut down after the department hit it with six odor violations that year. The plant reopened three months later after spending more than $3 million for new odor control equipment.

Under an agreement reached with the state in June 2006, the company paid a $100,000 civil penalty and agreed to pay $25,000 for each violation over the next two years. Since then, the plant has received just one additional violation, in November 2006, resulting in a $25,000 penalty, according to Floyd Gilzow, deputy director for policy at the Department of Natural Resources.

------

Information from: The Joplin Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com