WS 04-14-2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Recent Odor Problem On February 11th of this year the City received a compliant through the website regarding obnoxious odors. City staff immediately called Bell Pole who was already aware of the odor problem and informed staff of two things: 1) odor tests were already in the process of being conducted and 2) an acknowledgment that their "process had changed". Further conversation with the company concluded that a new co -solvent additive was introduced to their treatment solution and it was that co -solvent that is responsible for the obnoxious odors. Company president Tom Bell submitted the attached letter dated March 9, 2009 summarizing the problem. Staff has learned that this odorous co -solvent makes up approximately 10% of an 80,000 gallon batch of pole treatment solution. Complaint History From the initial website compliant until March 24th the City received complaints on a daily basis, often multiple complaints per day. The total number of logged complaints exceeds 25 and has been coming from the following: • New Brighton residents from all areas of the City. • New Brighton business owners who operate in close proximity to Bell Pale • Arden Hills employees and residents • People who travel through New Brighton every day on their way to work (but don't either live or work in New Brighton) Since March 24th, the City has received 4 complaints and City staff can still detect the odors near Bell's facility. Bell's Mitigation Efforts Bell Pole has acknowledged odors from the beginning and has been enacting the following mitigation efforts: • Stopped adding the odorous co -solvent to the 80,000 gallon batch of pole treatment solution. This occurred in late February/early March. The company went back to using the previous, non -odorous co -solvent. • Portions of the treatment solution were taken off-site to be further diluted then brought back and used. The hope is that the odorous co -solvent would be less noticeable when diluted with the non -odorous co -solvent. • The poles treated with solution containing strong amounts of the odorous co - solvent were taken off-site to prevent off-gasing odors (odors coming from the poles themselves and not the stack). Unfortunately, the compounds of the odorous co -solvent are such that odors are noticeable even when very low amounts of the co -solvent are present in the solution. Thus, the above mitigation efforts have not resulted in total elimination of odors. Staff inquired as to why the entire batch (80,000 gallons) of treatment solution couldn't be discarded, as it appeared that would be the only way to eliminate all odors. The company indicated that would result in a $250,000 loss M as the 80,000 gallons is considered hazardous waste and would have to be incinerated. Thus, the company continues to dilute the solution. These efforts have dramatically reduced the number of complaints, but not all. Also, diluting the solution creates a situation where the potential for creating odors could be present for many months and probably all through this summer. Staff is