TECH ENVIRONMENTAL PRESS RELEASES

2007-11-11: Draft Landfill Odor and H2S Guidelines

By the end of the year, the Massachusetts DEP is scheduled to either finalize its draft guidelines on landfill odor or re-issue them for additional comment. In June, MassDEP's Bureau of Waste Prevention requested feedback on a proposed policy guideline regarding odor nuisances and specifically addressing hydrogen sulfide. Tech Environmental has voiced a number of concerns to MassDEP regarding these draft guidelines:

  • They contain only a single set of action items in response to any confirmed odor event, limiting the agency's ability to handle situations that can vary greatly. (MassDEP has confirmed that they plan to split the action items into additional tables in the forthcoming version of the guidelines.) 
  • The entire set of action response items are triggered in response to a single odor event; the number of necessary action items should increase as the potential for nuisance conditions builds.
  • The draft guidelines require that action be taken in response to a single odor comp­laint, neglecting the importance of frequency (see FIDO, at left) in determining odor nuisance. 
  • It is not reasonable to require landfills to notify health agents about a "potential future health concern" in relation to a hydrogen sulfide odor complaint. As the article at left addresses, the presence of odor does not mean that health is at risk,cheap replica watches and odor nuisances should be discussed separately from health ha­zards.

Michael T. Lannan, PE

MLannan@TechEnv.com

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