Greenco Environmental has 12 months from today to pack up and move its composting operation out of Lamar County.
"As of November 11, 2011 there will be no more Greenco in Lamar County," Judge Tommy Wilson announced in Lamar superior court this morning.
Greenco principal Tim Lesko, shown addressing concerned citizens earlier this year, could not eliminate odor issues at his operation and now will have to move it.
Thank you Judge Wilson
Grove. It has been there for at 40 years I know
of. All it is rotting bark off trees. They
could move out by the prison outside of town.
Do you have any idea how much, if any, revenue Greenco generated for the county? What about how many employees were from Lamar County?
Are you aware Greenco entered into the agreement that stated they would not cause odor problem when they originally started the business? Then they failed to live up to their end of the agreement by not controlling the odor because they basically said they were new at this and didn't really know what they were doing. Good thing for us they weren't manufacturing explosives with their expertise level.
Some jobs are not worth the disadvantages to the county.
Dozens of people might very well lose their jobs if Greenco has to go too far away. Low paying or not, it's still devastating on the families who relied on that income.
So the INDUSTRIAL PARK was there when you arrived at your location? Does the Jordan burning bark smell bother you? If not, why not? How can Jordan continue to expel affluent and Greenco can't? Jordan should also be ordered out of the county for the same offense.
Ever been around Aldora and smelled the odor they produce? Don't worry about ordering them out, that operation is headed offshore soon enough on it's own.
Hopefully Greenco will sue Lamar county and the taxpayers in this place can feel the pain of their stupid leadership and "justice" system.
Oh, and by the way, a road trip to Molena and Meansville are in order for all. Those places are what this bypassed backwater will soon resemble. All you Sleepy Hollow CAVE dwellers will have your bedroom community in due time.
Maybe the Chinese guy will come back?
It has never been our goal to force Greenco out of business or to even make them leave. We would have preferred to have the odor problem solved. However, we deserve to not be bombarded with the noxious stench coming from the site on a daily basis. Perhaps if Tim had spent more time trying to remedy the situation instead of blaming the landfill and patting himself on the back and not telling the whole story at seminars and on Fox news, it would not have gotten to this point. Or perhaps it would have anyway, since every article, study etc. on composting food wastes, especially if it includes meat, fats and dairy states there will be horrible, hard to control odors associated with it. Maybe his business plan SHOULD have included purchasing enough carbon material to maintain higher carbon to food waste ratios. But then, even large operations who compost only yard waste can have odor problems if they do not do it correctly - you have to remember this is not a small backyard compost pile.
The bottom line though, is that the people who live here should not have to have their quality of life impacted to the point that it has been for the last year and a half due to odors so sickening that you can't spend time out doors or even open your windows on a nice day. Also, just think how many new companies could decide not to locate here because of the putrid smell.
Greenco has been given a year to relocate. Maybe they will find a solution to this ongoing problem so that they will be good neighbors to the next place they go instead of the constant problem that they have been here. It is too bad that the county was forced to be so drastic, but they had no other choice. OUR LIVES ARE IMPORTANT TOO!!!!
And by the way, you need to get your facts and figures correct .. it wasn't just four households who were affected or involved. There are at least 100. Some are just afraid to speak up in public. And as far as a thorough investigation on the part of the commisioners involved, they have been doing so for over a year, trying to find some way to rectify the problem without having to shut Greenco down. And before you accuse me of being soft on the commissioners because I am a "buddy" of theirs, you obviously don't know me.
I am signed in under anonymous because for some reason my post won't go through under my name, but I am signing it here --- Gwen Moore
Don't be so positive that the same people will find something or someone else to complain about. If there is no valid reason to complain there will not be any complaints. But do you think that people should not have the right to speak up when their lives are being detritmentally impacted? Afterall, Greenco promised there would be no odor coming from the site and if there was, they would leave.
One other thing - you obviously do not know the residents of the area. It was very hard for most of them, except for a very few of us, to even contact the county much less speak out on this problem. They are people who usually never complain, but they were driven to it by necessity. This has been extremely hard on them. You would probably do the same thing if this had been happening to you.
Once again, I had to sign in under anonymous in order to post a message - Gwen Moore
And there is no doubt in my mind as someone who works in the industrial park no other industry would have considered moving here with the smell. And you have existing industries who were already present employing far more people with far less impact on others before Greenco existed.
Are you on drugs? Perhaps you don't know the illustrious Billy Kitchens? He runs up and down the Old Milner Road harassing the railroad train people for making "too much noise". He trespassed onto Empower property one Saturday when I was there complaining about our work "waking him up".
So yeah, some of us are well aware of the cast of characters that inhabit the area around the Industrial Park. Do you remember all the hell that was raised about Rayonier and the noise their debarker machine was making?
Point is the insular types that live here complain about everything related to industry. An industrial park was constructed in a rural part of the county. Lo an behold, we have folks like Kitchens raising hell about the occupants of that?
Citizens
Against
Virtually
Everything
And why is everyone so scared to use there name?
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#5 Anonymous on 02/26/10 at 09:13 AM [Reply]
Hmmm, I do wonder when the lovely Kitchings family will do something about smell of burning bark coming from the Jordan facility?
After all, there should no emissions from any of the industries located in the park.
And goodness knows, the Kitchings have given the Empower company enough grief about "noise" from their plant. Even tried to harass the railroad for daring to haul hazardous material by on their trains!
Someone seems to need to "get a life" it would appear to me.
#6 Anonymous on 02/26/10 at 10:01 AM [Reply]
Let Me say for the record. The Kitching have never given us (Enpower) grief over the noise. We are the ones who have given their family and others the "grief". Everyone must try and work and live together in this type of enviroment.
I read all of this and I guess it's good people are involved. But it really should involve only the people effected by the odor.
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And while I did not live in the area when the problems with Rayonier and the debarker occurred, I am well aware of the situation and know that people all over the Northwest part of the county were concerned and bothered by the noise coming from the site and made it known.
By the way, do you still work for Enpower? From what I have heard about the incident that you keep referring to, you needed to be chastised for all of the noise you were making.
IE: Is there a bad smell? Is there a good smell? Or is there a smell at all?
Extensive scientific studies have shown phantosmia influenced affected persons to believe noxious odors and its origin exist simultaneously. The documented result is theoretical cognitive dissonance coupled with olfactory delusions resulting in 'smelly quandries'.
Having recently located to this "Heavenly Area" known as Lamar County, I take this opportunity to point out some simple facts regarding subliminal interpretation of pervasive savory smells.
Those odors emanating from the Greenco composting rows smells like aged elephant dung buried in Korean Kimchi pots to many and yet, many residents swear no smell exists. A 'smelly quandry'?
On the other hand, the revolting odors being routed into space by hooded exhaust fans at the local HH causes nausea to some people. Yet, many of the loyal derelicts who patronize the joint swear that when ol' nasty Pearlene gets to cussin' and sweatin' over a hot grill fixing up a mess of hawg maw and chitlins, equate that smell with fresh baked bread. Who is right? Stank odor or sweet odor? Personally, I vote stank!
Are we all afflicted with olfactory delusions? Cruise both locations and make your own diagnosis.
Call N. Alcars
"on sabbatical keeping my nose in shape breathing cool mountain air in Pennsylvania" The nose knows!