GREENE COUNTY — Attorneys for Bath Township and the City of Fairborn have served a notice of their intent to file a citizen suit over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at a local biodigester.
The township and city said in a joint release that the Dovetail biodigester facility, located at 1156 Herr Road, was allegedly installed and has been operating in violation of both the federal Clean Air Act and the State of Ohio’s air pollution laws and regulations since 2014.
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According to the release, they intend to jointly file a lawsuit under the Clean Air Act in 60 days against USEPA, Ohio EPA, and the Dovetail facility unless “significant progress” has been made toward bringing the facility into compliance with all applicable air pollution statutes and regulations.
The township and the city allege that Dovetail’s lagoon is emitting ammonia without the required air pollution permits and without required air pollution control devices, according to the release.
“It is believed that this ammonia may be causing or contributing to odors that citizens of Bath Township and the City of Fairborn have been complaining of for several years,” the release said.
Kassie Lester, Bath Twp. Trustee, told News Center 7 that there have been over 43-hundred odor complaints over the last three years.
“There’s different days that it smells differently. There’s some times people refer to it as raw sewage, other times they say it smells like ammonia. Other times, they say it smells like vomit,” Lester said. “It just has a really strange odor.”
Lester says people have also complained to the township that they have experienced different symptoms from the smell, including nausea, vomiting, severe headaches, respiratory issues and burning of the eyes and nose.
Although the facility is located in Bath Twp. Rob Anderson, Fairborn City manager, says the city is still impacted.
“Odor knows no boundaries, right? So our residents have had to deal with this for several years. It finally got to the point where we could wait no longer and partnered with the township to take this plan of action,” Anderson said.
Officials for both the township and the city say they are hopeful that Dovetail will work cooperatively with USEPA and Ohio EPA to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.
News Center 7 recieved the following statement from Renergy, the parent company of the company that operates Dovetail Energy:
“After Bath Township’s zoning claims were rejected by every court to consider them, the township trustees now threaten more litigation against Ohio EPA, US EPA and Renergy that is hostile towards and impedes the success of renewable energy and sustainable farming in Ohio. The threat of additional litigation by the trustees is nothing more than a bullying tactic from a township that has demonstrated disregard for the truth and a limited understanding of the law. Renergy encourages the Bath Township trustees to accept our invitation to visit our facility and to work with us for the improvement of this community instead of wasting taxpayer dollars on more frivolous litigation that will be dismissed by our courts.”
We will continue updating this story as we learn more.
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