Smiths Creek residents complain of smell coming from county landfill

When Linda Hunter took over the Pink Elephant, a local bar in Smiths Creek, she installed stakes in the yard so customers could play horseshoes.

For several months now, however, she said no one wants to be outside due to the smell wafting through the community.

"They can't sit outside without getting nauseous," Hunter said.

The culprit is the Smiths Creek Landfill, which provides garbage disposal for St. Clair County and has become the subject of an increasing number of complaints in recent months.

The smell has become so notorious that Kimball Township has begun surveying community members daily to ask if they can still smell it.

"We would like to know how often and how far reaching this issue has become," the township wrote in a Facebook post sharing the survey. "Our primary goal is to bring about a workable and sustainable solution to the issue while providing evidence-based data to pressure the landfill authorities and local government officials to take appropriate action."

Residents have been complaining about the smell since at least July, though Hunter said it was a problem before then.

Linda Emig, a resident of Smiths Creek who lives about a mile away from the landfill, said she has had to keep her windows shut all summer.

"I woke up to the smell in my house and it was just awful," Emig said.

Emig, Hunter and several other community members contacted the landfill manager, Matt Williams.

"The smell in the neighborhood from the methane released is intolerable," Hunter wrote in an email to Williams on Sept. 2. "My patrons can't sit outside and enjoy a beverage without getting nauseated, eyes burning, etc. It's disgusting. I can't enjoy a cup of coffee on the porch this morning."

Williams responded to Hunter in an email on Sept. 5.

"First off, I agree that the issues you and other area residents have been subject to are unacceptable and must be rectified," Williams wrote in the email.

"We have received a number of complaints in the past couple of months here in response to the smell from our facility; it turns out we believe the primary cause are gas wells on the west side of the facility that have been choked off."

Williams goes on to explain that the landfill had found a temporary solution to the well blockage and had ordered parts that would allow them to install an additional collection line.

As garbage is added into landfills, pipes are installed to collect the methane gas that forms as a product of the decomposing gas. The methane is then pumped to a flare where it is burned, often being used as an energy source or for some other purpose.

Residents said the smell continued well into October. The St. Clair County Board of Commissioners revealed at a board meeting Thursday that the landfill would be renting a second flare to help burn the excess methane.

"There's more excess gas right now than the one flare can handle, so they're looking at a second stack," Jeff Bohm, chairman of the board, said at the meeting. He said the county has reached out to some local companies to find a use for the excess gas.

Williams told the Times Herald the garbage in the landfill has been producing more methane than in previous years.

"There has been a larger than normal gas production in the back end of the landfill," Williams said. "We didn't realize that, quite honestly, before this summer."

Kimball Township residents who filled out the township's survey also received an email Thursday with a PDF document signed by Williams explaining that with one flare and the gas-to-energy engines, the landfill can capture about 1,450 cubic feet per minute of gas per day.

"Our investigation revealed a failure of mechanical control that determines when the flare runs and at what capacity," Williams wrote in the message. He also wrote that the landfill would be working with a private company to find where methane was leaking through the topsoil covering the landfill and improving the soil cover.

The extra flare the county is using is being rented for six months. Hunter said she wants to know what will happen when those six months are up. She said she's lost confidence in the landfill after local complaints have taken months to address.

Williams said addressing the smell has taken several months as engineers have worked to diagnose and address the problem. He said the landfill has been working to optimize gas collection and is going to install new pipes. He also said they could rent the extra flare past the six month period or permanently purchase it if necessary.

"We're going to keep working at this to correct the issue and get back to where we were," Williams said.

In posts in the Facebook group and a shared text message group, residents worried the methane leaks will drive down their property values and make it impossible to sale.

For Hunter, who inherited her bar from her father in 2020 and managed it for years before that, it's heartbreaking to watch customers leave.

"People end up going to the next bar to escape the smell," Hunter said. "This isn't a problem that can just be left alone."

Contact Johnathan Hogan at jhogan@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Smiths Creek residents complain of smell coming from county landfill