08/13/2006

Processing plant odor lawsuit to get hearing

Company says things are better; neighbors disagree

By Bill O'Brien

bobrien@record-eagle.com

WILLIAMSBURG — A legal battle is escalating at Williamsburg Receiving and Storage, where neighbors want a court order to stop odors emanating from the site, while the company counter-sued two nearby residents.

A hearing is set for Tuesday before Circuit Judge Thomas Power on a handful of motions in a long-running pollution dispute at the cherry processing plant in northern Whitewater Township.

A group of neighbors who joined a state lawsuit against the plant want an injunction to limit odors from the operation within 45 days, while the company argues conditions have improved significantly and wants the suit dismissed.

"It's time they took some responsibility out there .... they've been putting it off and putting it off," said attorney Christopher Bzdok, who represents the neighbors and the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council, which joined the state's lawsuit over various environmental problems at the plant.

WRS representatives said the company is working with the state to clean the property, and blamed any odor problems on the continuing draw down of a wastewater lagoon. An estimated million-gallon spill from the lagoon in November prompted an investigation from the state Department of Environmental Quality that resulted in a civil lawsuit by the state against WRS.

"All of these odors — if there are any — are coming from the lagoon," WRS attorney Joseph Quandt said. "There's nothing going on in that plant that's creating odors."

Quandt estimates there's less than one million gallons of wastewater left in the lagoon, less than 25 percent of the estimated four to five million gallons stored there last fall.

The company also filed a counter-complaint against neighbors Nola Boals and Robbin Bustance, alleging they damaged the company by complaining to a local bank and a WRS client about the environmental problems there.

Bzdok denounced the suit as a retaliation against people who are fed up with ongoing odors and other problems.

"They don't have damages — they're trying to bully people and scare people," Bzdok said. "(It's) an abuse of the legal process."

Quandt disagreed.

"We're only singling out the individuals who, in our opinion, committed tortious acts," he said. "We're not looking to complicate the case."