Rockland tackles seaweed waste odor Special crews to work at dump today

ROCKLAND – Starting today, the stink around the city dump will get a lot worse before it gets better.

Special crews and equipment are being called in today to move piles of FMC Corp. seaweed waste at the dump, which will send the needle on the odor meter spinning.

“The approach we’re going to take is to rip the Band-Aid off all at once,” City Engineer David Chittim said Thursday after a City Council session that included discussion about FMC’s waste disposal contract with the city.

FMC is renegotiating its contract for disposing of the Algefiber byproduct of its seaweed extraction process. Algefiber consists of seaweed particles, perlite, water, lime, salt, sand and rock.

FMC material has built up at the dump and is now beyond the city’s ability to move. When the byproduct is not properly disposed of within a few days, it gives off a foul odor.

A handful of neighbors of the Old County Road quarries, where the landfill and transfer station are located, asked the council not to renew FMC’s contract.

“The stink is terrible,” neighbor Diane Bartlett said, inviting city councilors to dinner and a sleepover at her house.

“I am diametrically opposed to renewing a contract with FMC,” resident Harley Colwell said.

Resident Martha Bouchard said taxpayers should not subsidize FMC. The company should pay to eliminate the odor, and the city needs more information on the risks of the byproduct and odor control.

“This is more than just a stench issue,” said Dr. David Myslabodski, a former FMC employee, telling councilors to find out more about the chemicals in the byproduct and its risks. The city should “demand FMC pay all expenses related to handling the special waste,” he said.

City Manager Tom Hall told the council the latest draft of the agreement was not ready for discussion. To that, Mayor Tom Molloy said people should know what kinds of issues were being addressed.

According to Hall, FMC has hired Cianbro Corp. to move the piles of waste today, mixing it with wood ash to subdue the odor.

“It’s going to be offensive tomorrow while we’re doing it and into Saturday,” Hall said.

Details such as training city workers and procuring proper equipment to handle the material are part of negotiations as well as “securing and ensuring future money when needed – a letter of credit mechanism,” Hall said, noting the draft agreement would be ready tonight and is scheduled to be acted on Monday, Oct. 17.

“This seems to be moving along fast,” Councilor Adele Grossman Faber said, motioning to halt negotiations until the council gathered more information.

Faber asked FMC plant manager Mike Stumbo and health, safety and environmental manager John McGuire some tough questions. Some Stumbo declined to answer.

Faber read from a document she obtained at a Sept. 17 open house at FMC in which McGuire blamed the city for the dump odor because it failed to spread the waste in a timely manner.

Stumbo called it an “internal document,” although it is titled “Open House Media Information,” and refused to comment.

Although most councilors indicated they would not be ready to sign an agreement Oct. 18, they voted 4-1 against stopping negotiations until they have more answers.