Suffolk council meets on smell origin

SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - For two weeks WAVY.com has reported on smells emitting from a Suffolk neighborhood. No one can say for sure the origin of the smells, so today Suffolk officials met with representatives from businesses in the area around the Suffolk Landfill. Only WAVY.com was there.

They gathered in the Suffolk City Council Chamber. It was a meeting of the minds to determine what's smelling up Suffolk around the SPSA landfill.

SPSA's Scott Whitehurst was there, "We're certainly not the only contributors in the Nansemond Parkway area."

No one can say for sure it's just the landfill.

The group met in private for 90 minutes in a conference room. John Holland who is the owner of Suffolk's smaller landfill spoke to WAVY.com after the meeting.

"I'm not saying my place does not smell sometimes. SPSA has smells too. It's also the second wettest season on record," he said.

WAVY.com asked the director of public works, if he knows where the smell has been coming from. "No, I think there have been many sources of the smells," says Eric Nielsen.

Possible contributors to the abnormal smell include:

1. The SPSA landfill
2. BASF that buys methane from the landfill
3. Natural Gas companies
4. Even natural environmental conditions.

"There are combinations including swamp land. There are also large areas of deforested land that was cleared a few years ago. We have also had the fourth largest landfall on record. These could be adding to the problem," says Nielsen.

Suffolk Councilman Leroy Bennett called for the meeting and says chinese drywall even came up in the meeting, "Everything is on the table. Chinese drywall too. If it's the drywall then we should know it," says Bennett.

John Holland disputed that claiming all the drywall dumped in his landfall is already buried.

Councilman Bennett lives adjacent to the landfill and got physically ill from the smells Sunday night.

"I want to know where the smell is coming from...if it's coming from several sources then that's why we have an investigation going on," Bennett says.

Also discussed was the reason for most of the unusual smells occurring around 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., "DEQ is investigating that. What I have heard is during the morning the smell rises with the temperatures and at night goes down with the temperatures," says Nielson.

Suffolk is hiring an environmental company experienced with odor control. There will also be a Community Public Hearing.

The officials at today's meeting will be at the Nansemond River High School on February 18th. The meeting is from 6-9 p.m. Count on WAVY.com to be there too.