A controversial, privately-owned waste treatment plant bordering north Fayette County has been fined $100,000 by the state for environmental violations.

Philip Services Corp. and Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) entered into an Aug. 11 consent order tightening the plant’s solid waste handling permit and payment of a $100,000 negotiated settlement.

The negotiated consent order followed an administrative order from EPD Director Carol Couch Aug. 4 that temporarily suspended the Fairburn company’s solid waste handling permit after complaints by numerous south Fulton and north Fayette residents from the onion-like odor of pesticide component propyl mercaptan and a subsequent call by Fayette and Fulton counties to shut the plant down.

The consent order effectively nullifies the need for both parties to state their positions to an administrative law judge. It does mandate numerous operational upgrades and provisions to the design and operation plan designed to limit future vapors from escaping plant property.

Commenting on the settlement amount, EPD Assistant Director Jim Ussery said the $100,000 sum was a very significant amount, one in line with the problems found at the facility.

“The permit will be tightened considerably,” Ussery said. “If the actions included in the consent order are not complied with, EPD could take much stronger action.”

Contained in the consent order were nine conditions. The first two conditions state that PSC will no longer receive any waste containing the odorant mercaptan nor will the plant accept any waste that has not previously been treated at the facility.

Within 30 days of the order, as condition three, PSC will submit a minor permit modification request to EPD to include a surveyed plat of the entire property and delineating “the portion of the PSC property that comprises the permitted solid waste facility and the portion of the PSC property that comprises the 10-day hazardous waste transfer station” (the area outside the fenced boundary of the facility).

The facility must improve signage to minimize the possibility that trucks entering the property could enter the solid waste facility. PSC also must install a fence surrounding the hazardous waste transfer station.

Condition four requires that, within 10 days, PSC will issue a report describing all measures taken to decontaminate the facility of residual odor-causing materials and identify any ongoing decontamination measures or those to be implemented along with a schedule for completion.

Condition five specifies that within 30 days PSC submit a comprehensive review of the design and operation plan including: additional techniques to reduce or eliminate the potential for future odor incidents; any identified modifications to the waste storage areas; any identified modifications to the hazardous waste exclusion methods; and modifications of existing waste profiling and screening methods.

Condition six requires, within 30 days, submittal of a plan to prevent any release of waste from the stabilization pit and solidification bays.

Condition seven gives PSC 30 days to submit the missing annual waste-generated and processing reports for 2004 and 2005. Condition eight requires PSC to ensure that piping connections are safeguarded to prevent the unintended transfer of waste from one tank to another.

Condition nine requires the payment of the negotiated settlement of $100,000 to EPD within 30 days.

Included in the consent order is the statement that “nothing in this consent order shall be construed as an admission or evidence of liability with respect to any matter alleged in the administrative order or addressed herein, and (PSC) specifically denies same.”

South Fulton/Fayette Community Task Force Chairman Connie Biemiller said she was unhappy with the outcome.

“The South Fulton and Fayette County Community Task Force is outraged with the EPD’s negotiation with PSC,” said Biemiller. “It appears that this consent order allows PSC to pay the EPD $100,000 along with a pinky promise of no more odor in our community. The people demand immediate outside professional testing of soil, air and water and the $100,000 would be a good start to fulfill that endeavor.

“Our community has been poisoned and we must know which toxins are the real culprit,” Biemiller said. “Once this is known, our doctors can be directed in administering appropriate treatment measures. If the EPD dares to make money off of our illnesses, we will see the EPD in court and take any other measure that deems appropriate.”

In contention among many affected residents in the 40 square-mile hot zone are reports of illnesses alleged to be related to water wash containing the mercaptan and pesticide MOCAP received at the Ga. Highway 92 plant on June 20-28.

Fayette and Fulton counties have thus far accounted for more than 300 residents in two counties who have reported health effects such as long-lasting headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin and eye irritation, pleurisy, asthma, pneumonia and kidney damage.

Despite the statements by PSC officials and EPD concerning those dates, many residents are adamant that the now-familiar smell was first detected on Memorial Day and persisting variably to the past weekend.

To date, Fayette County has accounted for 237 residents and 88 residents of Fulton County who have completed exposure forms on Fayette County’s Web site.

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