JACKSON TOWNSHIP

Something smelling rotten in Jackson Township has residents complaining and the state Department of Environmental Protection looking into solutions, including possibly shutting down the hauling of treated waste into the area.

"I would say it's a caustic odor that irritates your nasal passages and gives you a sore throat," said Maria Farrell, 52, of 1561 Franklin Road. "It's so bad that I go indoors so that I don't feel unhealthy."

She and other residents claim the smell is coming from treated waste that is being spread by the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority since May 19 on an 800-plus acre farm in Jackson Township owned by Roy J. Neer of Slippery Rock Township. They claim that they have smelled the odor for the past few weeks.

"The smell's been real bad the last few days," said John Schiestle, 46, of 1509 Franklin Road, who lives about 500 yards away from the property. "My son and I had mowed lawns at sewage plants (a while ago) and it smells just like that."

Numerous complaints to DEP and ALCOSAN officials over the smell have prompted the DEP to meet with all the parties involved including the waste haulers to come up with some options to resolve the problem.

"There is a significant problem as being reported to us," said Freda Tarbell, community relations coordinator for the DEP. "Dependent on the time of day, sometimes we could say, yes, there is a significant odor, sometimes there wasn't. It was a mixed bag depending on the weather conditions."

Mrs. Farrell said the odor was the strongest at dusk and dawn and right after it rains. "I've had to keep my windows closed and I don't have air conditioning. It's pretty unpleasant," said the Lakeview Area School District elementary teacher.

DEP is trying to find a solution that will make everyone happy but they're still working that out, and hope to have an answer by midweek.

Some of the options include finding another place to dump the treated waste while the DEP works on the odor problem at the Jackson Township property, finding a way to reduce the odor or halting the hauling altogether. DEP is scheduling a mobile laboratory to come into the area on Aug. 5 to measure the level of odor in the air.

"But for this to be useful, there has to be spreading going on," Ms. Tarbell said, adding that Aug. 5 is the soonest they can get the lab to the area.

If the spreading is halted, temporarily or indefinitely, ALCOSAN will abide by the DEP's decision. "We'll live with whatever the DEP tells us. They have worked very hard in our interest," said Carole Shanahan, residuals program manager with ALCOSAN.

"This is a very complex issue," said Ms. Tarbell. "There are a lot of different parties or entities involved here and people have made legally binding contracts, plus there are people upset in the community. We're sensitive to all of that."