According to the Department of Environmental Protection, 13 odor complaints were confirmed between February 14 and June 4, and seven more by July 27.
This is a view of the South Hadley landfill, as seen in December.SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley landfill has been fined $20,693 by the state Department of Environmental Protection for creating “nuisance odors.” The state has charged it with violations both “willful” and “part of a pattern of non-compliance.”
The landfill, operated by Interstate Waste Services, is allowed 21 days to appeal.
According to the Department of Environmental Protection, 13 odor complaints were confirmed between February 14 and June 4, and seven more were confirmed by July 27.
The notice of the fine quotes a business owner near the landfill as saying that on July 25 her customers were gagging from the odor.
Complaints about the smell have been ongoing, with Interstate Waste describing repeated efforts to contain it.
On July 17, Interstate vice president for environmental management Mark Harlacker told the South Hadley Selectboard that the company was installing 12 new gas wells and laying down permanent capping which should alleviate the smell by August.
The town recently established an Landfill Advisory Committee composed mostly of residents, who complain not only of the smell but also of noise and dust created by the landfill.
Residents from the area have gone before the Selectboard and the Board of Health several times to report their experience.
“As a group,” said their spokeswoman Christine Archambault, “we’re very optimistic that (South Hadley) wants to do its best for the entire town.”
On Tuesday, the Selectboard appointed Suzanne Cordes, an outspoken critic of landfill expansion in South Hadley, to the town’s Board of Health. Expansion was approved in 2009.
Cordes previously gave a Power Point presentation to the Selectboard that paid particular attention to the berms, or towers of trash.
At Environmental Protection, spokeswoman Catherine Skiba said a crack in one berm has been “critically evaluated,” but her department was still monitoring it and still waiting for more information from a third-party inspector. Archambault said a second crack has since appeared.
Thomas Fields, operator of the landfill, was laid off by Interstate Waste on Tuesday.
When asked if his layoff was due to the DEP fine, he said, “I have no idea.
“I was in the hospital for a week for an eye condition,” said Fields. “On the day I got out the hospital, I got laid off.”