UPDATED: City Administrator Contacts Health Department About Riverview Landfill
The smell surrounding the Riverview Land Preserve is not getting better, and Trenton City Administrator Jim Wagner wants to find out why.
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Trenton City Administrator Jim Wagner announced at Monday's city council meeting that he has contacted the county health department to pinpoint the odor surrounding the Riverview Land Preserve.
Wagner wrote a letter to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano requesting he send a representative of the Department of Health and Human Services, specifically those that deal with air pollution, to Trenton to make sure the odor is, in fact, coming from the landfill.
Wagner added he would like the health department to offer suggestions to help eliminate the odor as soon as possible.
There was some speculation that some of the smell could be coming from a lake located on the landfill property, according to Wagner.
Wagner said he received several complaints from residents about the smell last Wednesday and Thursday.
"There have been days, recently, that the odor has been unbearable," Wagner said.
Bob Bobeck, director of the Riverview Land Preserve, spoke at the Jan. 23 city council meeting and assured council members and Mayor Kyle Stack the smell would be decreased in the next few weeks.
Almost two weeks later, residents continue to complain about the smell.
Trenton Councilman William LeFever said he too has encountered the odor.
"I probably have the biggest nose up here (city council), and I can really smell the landfill," LeFever said. "My nose is telling me nothing has changed a whole lot."
Wagner said, in the letter, "the City of Riverview has been very cooperative in this matter, but with the number of complaints received recently, this writer writes to be assured that there is no secondary source of the odor."
Riverview officials were unavailable for comment at press time.
A copy of the letter sent by City Administrator Jim Wagner to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano accompanies this article.
Nate Stemen
1:02 pm on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The smell remains the same. What do you think should be done about it?
Terry Rhyne
2:38 pm on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
hire the right people to do the job right the first time
Trudy Reno
5:17 pm on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/1998-01/msg00013.html
I know the above is on the older side, but maybe contacting them along with local news and 20/20 will help. The above report scared me and with what is going on now- it doesn't seem too much different. I based my decision to move to Trenton on school systems in the downriver area, crime stats and even looked into sexual predators in the area. All for the benefit of my son to live in a good community and receive a good education. I guess I should have also looked into environmental hazards as well. HUGE MISTAKE ON MY PART! When I see my son get ill as a result of this--do not tell me this is not effecting our health and our poor children are paying even more of a consequence. Something has to be done. I feel trapped, but even more so, guilty for not knowing about this. Now my son, along with other children - all of us really, will pay the price for decisions made for the sake of revenue. I am disgusted. It seems nothing is being done to resolve the issue with the route taken of contacting local government and this so called land preserve. We need to go above and beyond them to be heard. I want an answer.
Brad
6:04 pm on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
THE CITY NEEDS TO DO MORE The smell is horrible, the trucks spill trash all along the road and the trucks speed up and down King Road. I think the landfill is dumping closer to King and Grange Roads that is causing more smell. Why doesn’t the Trenton Police Department start making traffic stops on the trash trucks for littering, speeding, and other equipment violations?
Sonya Smith
6:45 pm on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
I can see now that this goes way beyond just the smell. It is time that citizens speak up and stop this criminal activity.
Earl Denby
8:40 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
I have smelled this before myself, not only in Trenton, but here in Wyandotte, Southgate and of course Riverview. The main cause of the odor, I believe is that there landfill fill gas extraction system is too small. They need to add some generators or burn more of the gas. When you do this properly you have little to no odors, I speak from experience, I used to be a landfill gas manager