Complaints of noxious odors trigger violation for Washtenaw County landfill - MLive.com

Complaints of noxious odors trigger violation for Washtenaw County landfill - mlive.com

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI - A Washtenaw County landfill under scrutiny from environmental regulators for years faces a new violation after numerous odor complaints from residents in early October, according to a notice issued to the landfill on Oct. 10.

During the summer, the Arbor Hills landfill in Salem Township started using a new area for waste. In the first three months, The Conservancy Initiative, a citizens group involved in monitoring the landfill, received hundreds odor complaints, according to its tracking page. Property owners downwind submitted more than 200 in the first 22 days of October, the group said.

In particular, on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 more than 60 complaints rolled in and were forwarded to Arbor Hills management and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, triggering inspections and the violation, according to David Drinan, a resident with the Conservancy Initiative.

“The excess emissions and odors were predictable,” the group wrote on its website, saying it had anticipated the new landfill cell could be problematic.

A spokesperson for Green for Life Environmental, Inc., owners of the landfill, didn’t respond to emailed questions for comment. In a response to the EGLE violation dated Oct. 13, the company outlined nearly a month of efforts to tamp down the smells.

“The combined efforts of all the remedial construction conducted by the Arbor Hills staff appears to have eliminated the odor source. As always, Arbor Hills will continue to be diligent and response to future odor concerns that may arise,” the response reads.

The concerns are nothing new at the landfill, where odor complaints dating back more than five years triggered investigations from state and federal environmental regulators, a lawsuit from Michigan’s attorney general against its former owner and an eventual settlement with GFL requiring $2.3 million in fines and environmental projects meant to stem issues at the landfill.

Read more: Lawmakers credit residents ‘taking a stand’ for $2.3M settlement with Washtenaw County landfill

Under the consent judgement with the state, the notice about the odor violations triggers requirements that the landfill immediately investigate the cause and provide a plan to address it, according to the Oct. 10 violation notice.

Arbor Hills first found odors coming from the newly-operational Cell 6A at the landfill in early September, according to the company’s response to EGLE. It first placed a layer of clay on a part of the area near the cell, but landfill staff recognized the landfill gas odors were still escaping, the letter states.

The landfill also installed gas collection piping before deciding on Sept. 20 a fix would require a “large-scale project to complete,” according to the letter.

The landfill put a temporary gas collection system in place, EGLE spokesperson Jill Greenberg said in an email. It is scheduled to replace that temporary system with a permanent one by Jan. 18, 2024, she said.

“EGLE intends to continue monitoring Arbor Hills landfill for nuisance odors, conducting odor inspections to identify nuisance conditions and ensuring Arbor Hills landfill implements the requirements of the consent judgement,” Greenberg said.

The smells haven’t been the only trace of the landfill to catch residents’ attention in recent weeks.

People in subdivisions near Northville east of the landfill have noted a pulsating red and orange glow under certain weather conditions at night, according to Drinan and The Conservancy Initiative.
A photo taken by a resident shows the sky from the Northville Ridge subdivision near the Arbor Hills landfill at night on Oct. 19, 2023.Provided by Rajesh Mummineni

The glow is created by a flare installed as part of the renewable natural gas plant being constructed at the landfill, which collects landfill gas, purifies it and puts it in a pipeline system, Greenberg said. Once the plant is fully operational, the flare is intended to operate mainly when the it is undergoing maintenance, she said.

The plant is still refining the process of removing impurities and is not yet producing pipeline quality gas, she said, resulting in the flare being used for gas disposal at the current intensity. The volume of gas being processed that way and the current flame intensity is expected to “decrease significantly” as the start-up issues are resolved, Greenberg said.
Photos taken by a resident show a glow in the sky officials say comes from a flare at the renewable natural gas plant at the Arbor Hills landfill in Salem Township.Provided by David Horan

It may also appear more intense during low, overcast conditions, she said.

In the meantime, The Conservancy Initiative, which formed in 2015 to oppose expansion of the landfill, is calling on state environmental regulators for strict enforcement when it comes to odors at the landfill.

“Since Cell 6 began operation in July, the wind direction, not any action taken by GFL, is the most important variable to predict noxious odors. If the wind blows towards Northville Township, expect excess emissions and noxious odors in the Northville Township neighborhoods,” the group said in a post on its website analyzing recent odor complaints.

“The recent enforcement actions against the Arbor Hills Landfill have not improved the landfill’s impact on the community,” the group said.

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