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Brooklyn 'rotting carcass' odour unlawful

 by Ben Cameron


A Brooklyn meat rendering company that caused a ‘rotting carcass’ smell so bad it stopped nearby residents from inviting visitors to their homes was found guilty in court on Tuesday.

Australian Tallow Producers was found guilty of three counts of air pollution offences in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court following an Environment Protection Authority Victoria investigation.

The company was found to have breached the Environment Protection Act 1970 after it polluted the atmosphere with odours offensive to humans on three separate occasions in June 2011 and September 2011.

ATP operates a rendering facility and manufactures tallow from mixed abattoir material on Geelong Road, Brooklyn.

On 22 June 2011, EPA received 13 complaints from nearby residents complaining about offensive odours coming from the site.

Complainants described the odour as a “smell like sewerage, like rotting carcass…”, a “very, very strong putrid dead animal smell…’’ which made one complainant say they felt like throwing up.

Another resident said they “had to lock all the doors and windows and could not have any fresh air in the house”.

The EPA received similar complaints the following day, and on September 21.

An EPA officer, who visited the area on 22 June 2011, reported a strong offensive odour comprising of a mixture of ‘manure, blood, bone and tallow’ coming from ATP’s premises.

Further visits by EPA officers on June 23, 2011 and September 21, 2011 confirmed the stench, with one officer reporting they “felt close to vomiting”.

The company will be sentenced on December 21, 2015.

EPA Chief Executive Officer, Nial Finegan said the EPA called on 11 witnesses, two expert witnesses and nine environment protection officers to give sworn evidence.

“The outcome is a win for the Brooklyn community who have had to put up with localised pollution issues for too long,” he said.

“No community should have to live with an odour so horrid that they can’t even have guests over, constantly feel nauseous and are forced to close their windows.”

The EPA had also issued ATP four pollution abatement notices since 2011 and were fined more than $7000 over an odour incident in 2013.

The Industrial Evolution of Resourses

Shell Canada fined C$825,000 for 2013 refinery odour leak

Shell's company logo is pictured at a gas station in Zurich April 8, 2015. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) -


The Ontario government on Tuesday ordered Shell Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell , to pay C$825,000 (£546,727) in fines for discharging a contaminating odour from its Sarnia refinery in 2013.

In a statement, the Ontario Ministry for Environment and Climate Change said Shell had pleaded guilty to one offence of permitting a discharge of an odour containing mercaptan, a foul-smelling gas.

The Shell Sarnia Manufacturing Centre is located in Corunna, Ontario, and on Jan. 11, 2013, employees discovered a leak from a line containing mercaptan, which flowed into an on-site ditch that empties into the refinery's storm sewer system.

The odour affected a number of people in the nearby Aamjiwnaang First Nation, with several complaining of sore eyes and throats, headaches, nausea and vomiting.

Shell was fined C$500,000 for the offence, plus a victim surcharge of C$125,000 and ordered to donate C$200,000 to the Aamjiwnaang First Nation.

(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

In this ever-changing society, the most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart. They are real and sustainable. Their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit, not an ad campaign. The companies that are lasting are those that are authentic

In this ever-changing society, the most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart. They are real and sustainable. Their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit, not an ad campaign. The companies that are lasting are those that are authentic

Did you know that you actually smell with your brain, not your nose? The sense of smell is the first of all our senses to develop. Even before we are born, our sense of smell is fully formed and functioning.

GREENWICH-MOHAWK REMEDIATION: Odour woes halt excavation work

Excavation work has been halted in a concentrated area of the Greenwich-Mohawk brownfield remediation site after intense odours were generated over the past two days.

The city announced Wednesday that cleanup work at the north end of the site at 347 Greenwich St. was stopped due to smells emanating from a heavy concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons. The odour had been magnified due to unseasonably mild temperatures combined with humidity and dense fog overnight Tuesday, according to a media release from the city.

On Wednesday morning, two large hand-painted signs on plywood were spotted propped up near the brownfield site, bemoaning the ongoing odour resulting from remediation work.

Red painted letters on one read: "How sick R we of the smell," while a second read: "Please stop. Fumes R making us sick."

The bad smells, which vary in description from heavy oil or asphalt to electrical or burning smells to a chemical stink, first became an issue in July. The stench results from excavation work in an area heavily contaminated by oil or petroleum hydrocarbons over many decades by industries long gone.

Residents in the Eagle Place and Echo Place neighbourhoods have complained about smells permeating their homes and of being unable to enjoy their properties as well as suffering from headaches and sore throats.

One Mohawk Street resident, who preferred her name not be used, said the recent worsening of the odour became "super strong" on Tuesday night.

"I got up this morning and I could still smell it in my garage," she said Wednesday morning.

"People are really tired of it," she said.

The resident said the city has done a good job of keeping neighbours informed and she understands that "before things get better they'll have to get worse."

On Wednesday, the city announced it was taking action to decrease the impact on area residents.

Excavation activities on the concentrated area were halted until further notice. And as of late Tuesday efforts have been focused on odour management and excavation on other areas of the site, further from neighbourhood properties.

The city said that an additional vacuum truck will remain on site and be dedicated to oil skimming operations.

As well, additional daily applications of odour suppressing foam will be used on problem surfaces, including stockpiles and excavation slopes.

The city also announced that it will reassess the work program to ensure that heavily concentrated areas are excavated at a future date when warm temperatures do not worsen odours.

Ministry of Environment representatives visited the site on Oct. 29 in response to odour complaints caused by high winds and a large volume of rain that fell on Oct. 28, said city spokesperson Maria Visocchi.

Officials confirmed that air quality levels remain consistent with ministry standards and all volatile organic compounds data collected to date is within ministry guidelines, she said.

Daily air monitoring is scheduled to continue through November.

As of Nov. 1, 83,000 cubic metres of soil had been treated either through bioremediation or a coarse material wash treatment, according to the city. In addition more than 100,000 litres of oil has been skimmed from the excavation water and recycled.

Last week, area residents also were notified via a letter in their mailboxes of work being done in the northeastern portion of 22 Mohawk St. involving the removal of a small area of xylene-impacted material. Xylene is a solvent found in petroleum, gasoline, coal and wood tar.

The material was taken to 66 Mohawk St. to be treated. That work was estimated to last two to three days and may have resulted in a "magic marker" smell to the air, according to the city.

Additional monitoring of air quality levels was conducted during that work and it was possible that workers in the immediate excavation area would be required to wear respirators, stated the letter to residents. Air monitoring indicated that no applicable ministry standards were exceeded, the city said.

Odour issues have been a concern since July, but smells became overpowering in September when workers hit a heavily contaminated oil pocket at 347 Greenwich St. The oil was nearly a quarter-inch thick. Excavation work was then temporarily stopped and workers concentrated on cleaning efforts and odour control.

The Greenwich-Mohawk site was once home to come of the city's biggest and best-known factories, including Massey, Cockshutt and Sternson. The site was heavily contaminated and the city is conducting a massive cleanup operation.

Remediation is expected to continue to the end of March but if more work is needed, it may continue to the end of December 2016.

Charlton residents rally over abattoir odour, disease fears

Andrew Backhouse | 30th Oct 2015 5:00 AM 



A GROUP of residents with concerns about a proposed meat processing facility on the outskirts of Toowoomba is holding a community meeting tonight. FKG Group is planning to build an $80 million abattoir in the Witmack Industrial Park about 10km west of Toowoomba. A development application is before Toowoomba Regional Council. The public notification stage ended on September 22. Speaking on behalf of residents, Chrissie Bach said in their view the development did not belong in its proposed location, which is zoned for medium impact. She said neighbours of the proposed facility were worried about offensive odours and the impact they would have on future development in the Charlton precinct. Ms Bach also raised concerns about alleged health risks. Toowoomba union delegate Chris McGaw and Oakey veterinarian David Pascoe have publicly raised noise, odour and planning concerns about the project. FKG Group manager of property development Dallas Hunter has defended the project saying the state-of-the-art design would ensure that the facility would have little to no impact on nearby residents. "It's just as important for us and our neighbours that we have a low-impact or nil-impact plant and that's what we're designing," he said.


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Egg farm odour will hit residents of West Belconnen, says Parkwood owner

Parkwood Eggs in Belconnen is worried the smell from its laying sheds will affect residents of a planned new suburb. Parkwood Eggs in Belconnen is worried the smell from its laying sheds will affect residents of a planned new suburb. Photo: Jeffrey Chan The owner of Parkwood Eggs has slammed the West Belconnen housing development as way too close for comfort, indicating that much of the proposed new housing will be affected by smell from the barn egg farm. Pace Farm chief executive Paul Pace says the business will probably be forced out of Canberra when its lease expires if the new suburb goes ahead, with the loss of 65 primary production jobs. He described the proposed clear zone of 750 metres around the Parkwood Egg farm as completely inadequate. But the company's claims were rejected on Friday by the Land Development Agency, whose deputy chief executive, Ben Ponton, said there would be no smell for residents outside the 750-metre buffer and when development began inside the buffer the egg farm lease would be cancelled. Planning Minister Mick Gentleman has approved a territory plan change to pave the way for the housing development, which will have 11,500 homes, spilling over the border into NSW. The development has sparked concerns about the impact on the adjacent Ginninderra Falls area. Mr Gentleman approved the Territory Plan variation without referring it to the ACT Parliament's planning committee, a decision described as disappointing by Liberal planning spokesman Alistair Coe. The West Belconnen development area, earmarked for 6500 homes. Parkwood is in the top right of the development area, near the border with NSW and in part of the zone coloured pink. The West Belconnen development area, earmarked for 6500 homes. Parkwood is in the top right of the development area, near the border with NSW and in part of the zone coloured pink. Photo: Supplied "What is the purpose of having a planning committee if it is not to consider massive housing estates?" Mr Coe said. Pace Farm commissioned a report from Katestone Environmental, which concluded the government's report had significantly underestimated the odour emissions from the egg farm – and could be out by a factor of more than seven. A clearance zone of between three and four kilometres was necessary to meet NSW odour guidelines and reduce the impact on residents to an acceptable level, Pace Farm said. In NSW, a developer would be required to carry out high-level modelling, especially when the plan was to rezone land "to permit some 30,000 people to reside in the vicinity of the largest poultry farm in the region", it said. Pace has seven sheds with 189,000 chickens, but permission for as many as 10 sheds, housing 270,000 chickens. The Katestone report said the government-commissioned odour report had assumed an odour emission rate of 4 OU ("odour units") per minute per bird, but that significantly underestimated the emissions from layer chicken farms, which could be up to 7.6 times higher. And while the government report had used a Victorian guideline of 7 OU in the absence of a Canberra limit, it would have been more logical to use the NSW limit of 2 OU. Whichever limit was used, both were exceeded at distances greater than 750 metres from the Parkwood farm in all directions except the north to north-east, Katestone said. To meet the NSW odour figure, the buffer should be three to four kilometres from the farm. To meet the Victorian figure, the buffer should be 2.5 to three kilometres. Mr Pace said Pace had recently switched from cage to barn eggs at the ACT farm, which also housed one of the company's three grading and packing centres nationwide. The Parkwood lease runs for another 18 years and Mr Pace said he had expected the business to remain on site for as many as 50 years, but his discussions with the government suggested the lease was highly unlikely to be renewed because the farm was incompatible with residential development. Mr Ponton confirmed that Parkwood's lease would not be renewed at the end of 18 years, and might be resumed earlier if the housing development went more quickly than anticipated. Parkwood was "absolutely" aware of that. "Parkwood Eggs know and has done for some time that the land is required for development in the next 20 years," Mr Ponton said. "They know what the rules of engagement are." The government rejected Parkwood's analysis, he said. The current Crown lease specified an exclusion zone of just 500 metres. The government-commissioned report had recommended 600 metres. And the decision to impose a 750-metre zone had been based on best-practice South Australian guidelines. ​Pace's concerns were set out in a submission to the Territory Plan change, but the government said an independent site auditor had endorsed the approach, it said. Riverview plans to sell the first property off the plan in June 2016, with residents living in the new suburb in the third quarter of 2017.