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ENLARGE
THEN AND NOW
Edna Van Leuven
This story begins, for Doug and I, some years ago. We'd moved from our home on the Carson Highway to our new home closer to town at Leeteville Junction. Recently, I was waiting — sitting in a local barbershop — while Doug got a haircut.
Picking up the LVN, I began to read local news concerning the problem of an odor coming from one of the county's latest businesses. Since Doug and I are two of the earliest people to have met with the representatives of this company, we are very interested in what is happening.
Reading out loud, Doug and I discussed the problems Don and Sandy Mello and their neighbors are having. I remember how all of us had been promised — and I quote: “There will absolutely be no smell from our plant.” But anyone with a nose will tell you, plain and simple, the odor is nauseous and intolerable.
The barber spoke up and said something along the lines of “gee, just how bad can it be.” And he laughed. I thought Doug would come unglued. He asked the barber how he would like to have his very skin, hair, clothes, house, and all of his possessions, smell with an odor that is almost indescribable. The barber got quiet.
Years have passed and more and more people are being affected by this problem, people — believe it or not — clear across the county on Rice Road. This isn't something that happens often for them; but it's an almost daily occurrence for some county residents.
At first it was just plain terrible with this new “business” saying the odor wasn't coming from their place and blaming it on things like a company in Silver Springs and then the widening of the highway into Fernley. So, I called the Fernley mayor and asked him if the people living close to the highway had complained of the smell. The mayor thought I was crazy; of course, there hadn't been any complaints. The offensive smell was coming from the new plant, and after awhile even they couldn't deny the problem.
You cannot imagine, you folks living in town, what these people out on Carson Highway-Bango Road have to put up with. Animals and people are coming down with unexplained illnesses. One sweet lady woke one morning to find that one half of a beautiful tree facing this plant had died overnight. Like smoke to fire, where there is odor there are chemicals.
Where Doug and I now live, we have, on occasion, been subjected to this problem, the first time making both of us physically nauseous. We have been to a few of the meetings the residents have held, trying desperately, to get some kind of help. But have you ever tried to fight a company that has a bevy of good, expensive lawyers? You know the old saying; you can't fight city hall. This is a fight you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy!
In the meantime, all of you nice folks who live in town on Taylor Street, or Stillwater, Avenue or A Street, or anywhere else in town or the county, are understandably not interested in what has been going on “with the smell.” Maybe, when I tell the rest of this story, you just may want to take more of an interest? Now this company is asking for permission to discharge “partially treated wastewater” directly onto the ground where their plant is located.
Folks, we're not talking about throwing a bucket of dishwater out a kitchen window. We're talking about thousands of gallons a day containing chemicals — some that are now banned additives to gasoline. Until now, this water was supposed to be trucked away. Now they want to increase production, and also have the privilege of dumping it out on their land “to keep dust down” just off of the Carson Highway.
OK, friends, now think about this.
Domestic wells are down gradient of this plant, as is the Carson River. The last time I looked, I don't think that water, any water, knows the difference between domestic wells or those serving the city of Fallon. So now the problem would not just be one belonging to the Don Mellos' and friends. If this discharge of wastewater dumping is allowed, it could be a problem for all of Churchill County. Talk about a problem. Haven't we had enough with other health scares?
I leave you now with three words to think about, just three words —
REMEMBER HINKLEY, CALIFORNIA!
Edna Van Leuven is a Churchill County resident and columnist.
Picking up the LVN, I began to read local news concerning the problem of an odor coming from one of the county's latest businesses. Since Doug and I are two of the earliest people to have met with the representatives of this company, we are very interested in what is happening.
Reading out loud, Doug and I discussed the problems Don and Sandy Mello and their neighbors are having. I remember how all of us had been promised — and I quote: “There will absolutely be no smell from our plant.” But anyone with a nose will tell you, plain and simple, the odor is nauseous and intolerable.
The barber spoke up and said something along the lines of “gee, just how bad can it be.” And he laughed. I thought Doug would come unglued. He asked the barber how he would like to have his very skin, hair, clothes, house, and all of his possessions, smell with an odor that is almost indescribable. The barber got quiet.
Years have passed and more and more people are being affected by this problem, people — believe it or not — clear across the county on Rice Road. This isn't something that happens often for them; but it's an almost daily occurrence for some county residents.
At first it was just plain terrible with this new “business” saying the odor wasn't coming from their place and blaming it on things like a company in Silver Springs and then the widening of the highway into Fernley. So, I called the Fernley mayor and asked him if the people living close to the highway had complained of the smell. The mayor thought I was crazy; of course, there hadn't been any complaints. The offensive smell was coming from the new plant, and after awhile even they couldn't deny the problem.
You cannot imagine, you folks living in town, what these people out on Carson Highway-Bango Road have to put up with. Animals and people are coming down with unexplained illnesses. One sweet lady woke one morning to find that one half of a beautiful tree facing this plant had died overnight. Like smoke to fire, where there is odor there are chemicals.
Where Doug and I now live, we have, on occasion, been subjected to this problem, the first time making both of us physically nauseous. We have been to a few of the meetings the residents have held, trying desperately, to get some kind of help. But have you ever tried to fight a company that has a bevy of good, expensive lawyers? You know the old saying; you can't fight city hall. This is a fight you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy!
In the meantime, all of you nice folks who live in town on Taylor Street, or Stillwater, Avenue or A Street, or anywhere else in town or the county, are understandably not interested in what has been going on “with the smell.” Maybe, when I tell the rest of this story, you just may want to take more of an interest? Now this company is asking for permission to discharge “partially treated wastewater” directly onto the ground where their plant is located.
Folks, we're not talking about throwing a bucket of dishwater out a kitchen window. We're talking about thousands of gallons a day containing chemicals — some that are now banned additives to gasoline. Until now, this water was supposed to be trucked away. Now they want to increase production, and also have the privilege of dumping it out on their land “to keep dust down” just off of the Carson Highway.
OK, friends, now think about this.
Domestic wells are down gradient of this plant, as is the Carson River. The last time I looked, I don't think that water, any water, knows the difference between domestic wells or those serving the city of Fallon. So now the problem would not just be one belonging to the Don Mellos' and friends. If this discharge of wastewater dumping is allowed, it could be a problem for all of Churchill County. Talk about a problem. Haven't we had enough with other health scares?
I leave you now with three words to think about, just three words —
REMEMBER HINKLEY, CALIFORNIA!
Edna Van Leuven is a Churchill County resident and columnist.
