RESPONSE SUMMARY - Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

RESPONSE SUMMARY
ORIGINAL DRAFT ORDER OF APPROVAL NO. 10052
Comment Period – April 29 - June 15, 2010
the air grow worse with time. I was a primary plaintiff in the class
action law suit against Cedar Grove and Cedar Hills. As part of the
settlement of that suit the defendants had 3 years to fix the problems (it
has been well over 3 years). For a while things seemed to be okay (I
travel a lot so am not here all the time) but in the last year or so the stink
has got much worse. I understand the Cedar Grove is taking in more
than they can process, started taking in animal scraps and are not
covering their stuff. This may explain at least part of the problem. The
stink has reduced my enjoyment of my home and property value (I
never would have bought this house if I knew I had to deal with this). I
was here before Cedar Grove. I am an engineer and have the job of
explaining our "engineering solutions" to problems to our customers.
Although the customers listen politely, they make it clear that they
don't care about "engineering solutions". They want performance
guarantees with big financial penalties if the performance is not met and
they will not buy our product if things are not fixed. In other words, if
we don't get things fixed right, they are going to effectively shut us
down. That is what I want for Cedar Grove. Cedar Grove has had the
money to expand and take in new products. The have chosen not to
spend money to fix the stink problems because they can make .more
profit by not fixing it. The only way that I think they will fix the
problem is when it becomes uneconomical not to. They are in business
to make money and they have shown that they don't care about the
community around them. Now is the chance to really make a difference
and prevent this issue from growing into a bigger and more costly
problem for all involved. The way I see it, Cedar Grove Compost
should not be allowed a new permit unless:
1. There are performance guarantees that will shut them down if they
fail. They should not be allowed to operate if they create a stink.
2. They are required to have adequate insurance to cover the decreased
property values of the community, payable to the homeowners. In the
class action suit, we settled for what was available from the insurance
which was much less than our losses. At that time, our settlement
allowed Cedar Grove to continue to operate. Cedar Grove presented
“engineering solutions" which we thought would solve the problem.
Clearly either Cedar Grove either did not implement the “solutions"
or they did not work.
(Oral Comments June 3)
(June 3 Oral Comments Paraphrased) - Resident 33 years. Plaintiff in
class action lawsuit. Is the VP for the 4 Lakes Association. CG did not
fix problems within 3 years as promised. CG is taking in more than they
can process. Condition of air grows worse with time. Wants
performance guarantees in our permit with big financial penalties.
Require they insure surrounding property values. (Recommendations
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