01/14/2007

Editorial

Get-tough WRS agreement may finally resolve issues

Finally, there it is, on paper. And with no wiggle room.

After years of broken promises and half-hearted enforcement efforts by state and local officials, cherry processor Williamsburg Receiving and Storage has been ordered to take real steps to curb long-standing odor and environmental problems.

In an agreement reached after months of negotiations — but only after Circuit Court Judge Tom Power demanded a concrete, enforceable plan — the company has said it will install odor-controlling "wet scrubber” equipment at the plant and spend about $100,000 on hydrogen sulfide monitors.

WRS also agreed to pay its long-suffering neighbors $350,000 to settle damage claims over on-going nuisance odors and other contamination problems.

The pact, between the company, the state Department of Environmental Quality, some WRS neighbors and the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council, also calls for a third-party to be named to investigate future odor complaints. Each new violation will bring a $3,250 sanction.

It is a watershed moment for the neighbors, who for years have complained of the foul stench that would often emanate from the plant and force them inside behind closed doors (even in the heat of summer), only to be pooh-poohed by the company and ignored by the DEQ.

It is also, hopefully, a wake-up call to the DEQ, which utterly failed to do the job the people of Michigan (and WRS's neighbors, in particular) expect of it. A consent order reached between the DEQ and WRS in 2002 did little to stem the problems, and odor complaints and pollution problems persisted. It was so ineffective, in fact, that there was a wastewater spill in November 2005. That was the basis for the new suit.

After months of negotiations, however, the neighbors and NMEAC complained that the new agreement looked a lot like the old one — toothless. Thankfully, Power agreed and rejected the deal as simply more of the same. After that, all the parties negotiated and came up with a concrete, enforceable solution.

None of this would have come about if NMEAC and the neighbors hadn't been allowed to join the suit and then demand that it be transferred from Lansing to 13th Circuit Court in Traverse City, practically within sniffing distance of the plant. Both WRS and the DEQ fought the move.

Further proof of the DEQ's failure to aggressively pursue solutions is that under the new agreement the company agreed not to store wastewater in ponds on the property or spray it on surrounding property.

A reasonable assumption, then, is that those plans were at least under consideration by the DEQ and could have been part of a new consent agreement; a reasonable question, then, is why? Given the firm's horrific track record, why weren't such possibilities simply rejected out of hand?

Thankfully, this isn't up to just the DEQ anymore.

WRS attorney Joseph Quandt said he expects the plant's neighbors to take a wait-and-see approach toward the settlement, but vowed that "the company is confident the odors are going to be a thing of the past.”

"We're pleased that (the lawsuit) is resolved,” he said. "We're looking forward to recommitting ourselves to the neighborhood and getting past this thing.”

A new attitude on the part of WRS would, of course, be the best possible solution. No one went looking for this fight, but when it was thrust upon them by the company's continued flaunting of the law and the DEQ's failure to act, the neighbors and NMEAC did what they had to do. As did Power.

Hopefully, WRS will get its pollution problems under control and make a profit, and the neighbors will be able to sit on their porches this summer without gagging.

Time will tell.