Neighbors, 

I had a GREAT discussion with our District 2 Commissioner, Aaron Bell. He is fully aware, has experienced the smell himself and is engaged and working to address the odor issue the best he can. At this point he's got a high confidence that the smell is in fact the waste products being dumped by Rayonier. He's learned that it's believed to be hydrogen sulfide that we smell. He's been assured that the disposal rates are in line with EPA standards and haven't increased, even though the smell seems to have gotten worse. The worsening smell is attributed to the excessively wet summer we've had. Where normally what is disposed of dries up relatively quickly usually, the copious rain we've had this year has caused it to remain liquid, often creating a situation where more liquid waste is dumped on top of waste that's still liquid, rather than dried and solid. Hence the worsening odor.

Commissioner Bell has an appointment to meet with Rayonier to walk the site this upcoming week and plans to discuss additional mitigation options, if any. Though we may just need to hope and wait for drier weather, Aaron seemed reassured that Rayonier wanted to find an improved option as well.

I have a follow up call with the Commissioner next Wednesday to learn what he was able to find out from his site visit with Rayonier. I'll update again then!

-Jason