Pitcairn emergency management coordinator wants 'eye-watering' odor addressed

There are times when Nick Turner of Pitcairn sits in his recliner, and his eyes begin to water from the odor.

He doesn’t know for certain where the smell is coming from. But it has been happening for a long time and reached a level on Friday that caused one of his neighbors to call 911.

“It’s gotten progressively worse,” Turner said. “I’ve probably been doing this for the past four or five years, where we constantly smell it and complain. The fire department has been called out for it.”

After a resident on Wood Street called 911 on Sunday evening to report the smell inside their home, Turner said he and Pitcairn Police Chief Scott Farally reached out to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Waste Management operates a landfill nearby. Turner said he doesn’t know for a fact that the odor is coming from the landfill, “but if an odor is being produced there by something, it shouldn’t be traveling this far.

“That’s where we’re coming from,” he said. “Everybody understands there has to be a dump someplace. In no way, shape or form do we want to blame Waste Management for doing this. We just want the issue fixed.”

Waste Management spokesperson Erika DeYarmin Young said DEP officials investigated the complaint.

“No emergency was identified, and no additional response was necessary,” Young said. “We take any odor complaints very seriously and work closely with the Pennsylvania DEP and our host community on managing any concerns.”

Turner told TribLive news partner WTAE that he and his crews metered the area and registered “explosive and toxic readings” from the wooded area near the dump.

“If it was closer to the residents I would have evacuated the area,” Turner told WTAE.

Crews wanted to conduct readings at the actual landfill, Turner said, but claimed Waste Management personnel prohibited them from coming onto the property.

DEP Spokesman John Repetz said an inpector did detect odors outside the landfill’s perimeter, and that an inspection of the working face of the landfill found its daily cover was adequate.

“The operator of the landfill’s gas plant, which is monitored 24/7, reported the plant was running normally,” Repetz said. “DEP’s investigation is ongoing and it has asked the landfill to further investigate and do additional testing to address the issue, as required by its permit.”

Turner lives near the Wood Street resident who called 911.

“I can vouch for it,” he said. “In the past, you’d smell it, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Now it’s getting to the point where it’s, like, eye-watering.”