Ohio EPA odor violations pile up against Wiles Storage Pond over dumping practices

CANAAN TWP. − Tanker trucks blocked both lanes of traffic on Pleasant Home Road on a recent morning when Jodi Ticher was driving her kid to work. To get around, she drove on the shoulder through deep mud.

The trucks dispersed after a few hours and left a mud slick smeared across the road.

"I couldn't get past them; there were like 7 to 8 trucks," she said. "It's dangerous."

Big stink:Ohio EPA issues new permit to Wiles Storage Pond

It is one of many inconveniences and concerns Ticher has about Wiles Storage Pond, a manure lagoon colloquially named "poop pond," that sits half a mile from her home.

A member of the now quiet Canaan Residents Against Pollution that opposed the storage pond in years past, she said the lagoon is not lined and relies on clay to keep biosolids from seeping into the groundwater beneath the property.

"I would feel better if it were properly lined," she said. "There are problems that are going unaddressed."

The lagoon has a history of repeated Ohio EPA violations. Seven notices were sent to the pond operator Quasar Energy Group since early 2020.

The most recent notice was issued on Nov. 17 and echoed many of the previous violation notices. It detailed truck operators improperly disposing of waste in the pond and complaints of pond-related odors.

Quasar Energy Group did not respond to email and phone requests seeking comment for this story.

Wiles Storage Pond construction began in 2018

Despite local opposition, the lagoon was constructed in 2019 just east of Friendsville Road along East Pleasant Home Road.

It is owned by Pleasant Home Farm LLC and received a new permit to haul in waste in 2020.

The property stores less than 10 million gallons of class B biosolids that could include the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, biosolids, manure, food waste, fats, oils, grease, energy, crops, glycerin, stillage and Ohio EPA-approved feedstock.

Permits:Quasar storage lagoon causes stink among residents

Sewage sludge is trucked in from multiple permitted Canaan Township facilities, including the Buckeye BioGas facility on Secrest Road in Wooster.

The nutrient-rich waste is then distributed to nearby farms to be spread on crops.

Nearby resident Brian Bumgardner said the occasional bad smell is expected, and it doesn't bother him.

"It would be nice not to smell, but it was done before I moved here," Bumgardner said, who moved to his home on Pleasant Home Road just after the pond opened. "It's like the smell of manure you get living out in the country."

Improper unloading worsens smells

The Ohio EPA said it observed seven trucks unloading waste at the Wiles Storage Pond on Sept. 30.

According to the violation notice issued two months later, the trucks did not properly unload waste into the pond to reduce odor by using the required Camlock fitting or boom tanker funnel and pipe to discharge beneath the pond surface.

According to the agency's account:

Two trucks used hoses to discharge on the ramp leading into the pond or on the pond surface.

Four trucks unloaded waste into an unapproved frac tank that discharged effluent onto the pond surface. Ohio EPA crews reported biosolids around the tank, which could indicate a leak or the tank being overfilled.

Once the four trucks pumped waste into the frac tank, the drivers backed up to the pond and discharged the remaining contents. The final truck dumped waste directly into the pond above the surface.

A natural crust forms on the pond as it is filled with waste, trapping odors, according to the Ohio EPA, but that crust breaks when the unloading occurs on the pond's surface.

At the start of observations in September, 35% of the pond was covered with a crust. When EPA observers left, that was reduced to nearly 18%.

The Ohio EPA is working with Quasar to resolve the violation, said Anthony Chenault, a media coordinator for the Ohio EPA.

"As a result of that notice, the company has indicated that they plan to redesign the unloading area and submit an additional permit application so as to address these issues," Chenault said.

History of unloading violations

This is not the first unloading violation issued against the Quasar-operated Wiles Storage Pond.

In May 2021, Ohio EPA observers reported the facility unloading biosolids "without the use of equipment necessary to perform the proper subsurface transfer of biosolids."

Tanker trucks unloaded biosolids into the pond from above using a boom or down the ramp that runs into the pond.

Earlier that year in February, the facility was issued a violation for unloading waste directly onto the pond surface.

A Quasar response to the February notice claimed the company was looking into the unloading practices at the Wiles.

The response to the May notice told the Ohio EPA that the documented practice was "acceptable." Other practices were preferred when applicable.

Eight violation notices since 2018

The first violations came in 2018 during its construction.

These included the western and northern berms of the pond exceeding the Ohio EPA-approved width of 20 feet by between 1 and 9 feet. By January 2019, the Ohio EPA confirmed these violations were resolved.

Explosion:Three hospitalized after explosion at Quasar Energy's Wooster facility

Of the next seven violation notices issued between January 2020 and Nov. 2022, the Ohio EPA reported five odor violations and four violations for improper unloading from tank trucks.

In its to the odor violations, Quasar told the Ohio EPA that they "made steady progress since opening the storage pond in mitigating and controlling potential odors."

Quasar argued the drop in complaints 2020 to 2021 proved it was making progress.

From Jan. 1 to April 15, 2020, Quasar received 30 odor complaints, compared to six in the same time period in 2021, according to a Quasar response letter to a violation.

Concerns about future developments

While the storage pond will likely remain, Ticher said, the Canaan Residents Against Pollution will continue to monitor its progress and violation notices.

But there is a feeling of defeat with the latest round of violations, Ticher said.

Ticher fears the storage pond will eventually expand to include a digester, like other Quasar sites.

"So many people including scientists, environmentalists and the Ohio EPA said this was bad, but it's still going on," she said. "Nothing seems to change. The EPA doesn't do anything."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Canaan Twp's 'poop pond' issued additional EPA violations