Additional Comments Summary Response to Additional Comments

RESPONSE SUMMARY
REVISED DRAFT ORDER OF APPROVAL NO. 10052
Comment Period – September 13 – October 28, 2010
Commenter
Comment Synopsis
didn't have the time during the day to hang around waiting for someone
from your agency to fill out a complaint form. I feel this
provision would allow me to be heard when there is a problem without
further disrupting my life.
Cathy and Doug Brandt
(Written 10/28/2010)
Secondly, I would like to address the subjectivity of what constitutes a
level 2 odor. Every citation PSCAA writes can be legally challenged by
Cedar Grove Composting. This adds up to significant legal costs for
PSCAA at the taxpayers expense. At the meeting, a couple people
commented on whether PSCAA had the ability to take air quality
measurements and to try to find out what it is that we are breathing. If
this equipment exists, Cedar Grove should be required to front the costs
for PSCAA to purchase and maintain the equipment as long as they
continue to have a significant number of odor complaints. Certainly
having a scientific basis for these odors would dramatically reduce any
legal challenges. I read an interesting article about "field olfactometers"
and was thinking this might be one thing that could be used. Here is a
copy of that link
http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/000435.html. The information I
was interested in is under the heading "Quantifying Compost Odors."
Lastly, I would like to emphasize the need for larger fines. Cedar
Grove Composting has demonstrated that the current fine amounts are
simply being absorbed as operating costs. At least a portion of this
money should go to PSCAA to recoup the expenses the agency incurs
while the composting facility repeatedly violates their operating
requirements.
My husband and I have lived on the top of Squak Mt. (between
Issaquah and Renton) for 6 years. We are often disturbed by an strong
odor that smells like manure, or what we now know to be rotting
compost. We always wondered where the smell was coming from since
it was so detectable and we knew there weren't any neighbors below us
that had spread compost (we are the highest residence on this
mountain).
This odor occurred so frequently that we started to research the issue
a while back. Unfortunately we didn't research everything when we
bought this property, and were unaware that it was apparently
condemned or devalued at one time due to the smell coming from the
Cedar Grove Compost facility. We should note that we are completely
natural/organic up here, and rarely purchase compost. We have our
own tumbling composter which we fill only with dropped leaves and
other debris from our native trees/plants (and all non-native