Friday, January 12, 2007

January 12, 2007 It Stinks

There is a terrible odor that apparently comes and goes in the Roe Junction area of Hamblen County.

Several residents of that area complained at different times to the City of Morristown and even to the Hamblen County Commission about what some called a "dead animal" smell.

After months and months of back-and-forth communications and various attempts to resolve the odor problem, the City of Morristown conducted a hearing on December 11, 2006, and found per Administrative Order 06-001 that:

Koch Foods, LLC, Debone Plant has [from February 25, 2005 to November 30, 2006] discharged wastewater into the City's wastewater collection system which resulted in the creation of a layer of sludge in the ETPC (East Tennessee Progress Center) lift station wetwell. This created interference within the Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW), and an offensive odor within the collection system.


The City assessed a civil penalty $ 23,850.00
August 11, 2005-November 30, 2006
477 days @ $50/day

The City demanded recovery of treatment costs $180,668.74
Chemicals, contractors, labor & materials, etc.

On January 8, 2007, Koch Foods submitted a written notice of appeal of the City's "findings on the civil penalties and recovery costs."

Koch said that it had worked "diligently" with the City and the POTW [Treatment Works] to "alleviate any and all discharges that may have had a negative impact on the cities (sic) collection system."

Koch asks for a review of the findings through the appeals process with the City Council.

1 comment:

Melissa said...

Big business vs. public health?

Koch Foods has been nasty and using poor people to work on site for years.

When I was pregnant w/ my son who is now a United States Marine I knew it for sure the summer day that I drove by there and was physically ill.

Are we going to be the next Pigeon River?