AUSTIN, Texas — Neighbors in several East Austin neighborhoods have been reporting foul odors in the air for months.
"It's like a sourness that comes through your nostrils," said Ian Fontenot, a 14-year resident in the Sendero Hills area.
Residents living in the Johnny Morris, Loyola and FM 969 neighborhoods say Break It Down, a composting and recycling business for local shops and restaurants, is the source of the foul odor
"It always impacts our morning runs. Whenever you get up early in the morning and want to smell some nice clean air, instead you smell trash," explained Fontenot.
According to a statement from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the TCEQ Austin Region has responded to odor complaints received from residents near the Break It Down facility.
The Austin region issued a Notice of Violation to Break It Down on Dec. 15 for failure to comply with odor nuisance rule found at 30 Texas Administrative Code 101.4, and the facility was given 30 days to provide a description of corrective actions taken and documentation that compliance had been achieved.
Owner of Break It Down Jeff Paine said his business has been hauling material off daily so that the smell will be gone for residents.
"The goal will be to not process any material here that could be a source of odor, so we won't be processing anything here that could produce a smell," said Paine.
According to information received from neighbors, the odor is an issue they're seeing no action on.
"We've sent a letter over to the company of the compost pile and they said that they're going to fix it, but so far they haven't. And that was about two months ago," said Fontenot.
Paine said weather delays have set his company back, but materials are being hauled off, which he hopes to be gone by March – but it's not guaranteed.
According to a recent statement from TCEQ, the Austin region received a response from Break It Down on Jan. 6. The response has been reviewed and a follow-up investigation evaluating compliance with the odor nuisance rule (30 TAC 101.4) is almost complete. Once complete, the TCEQ Austin Regional Office will follow the agency’s standard enforcement process to resolve any outstanding violations.
The office of Austin City Councilmember Natasha Harper-Madison, whose district includes the neighborhoods and the composting site, said she's happy to learn the owner has plans to resolve the problem in a way that will restore residents’ quality of life.
"In the meantime, my team and I are exploring options to ensure similar issues don’t happen in any other parts of Austin,” said Harper-Madison.
TCEQ Austin Region staff were in the area on Wednesday and any observations or findings will be included in the current open investigation.
More information on the typical phases of action that can occur if/when environmental violations under the TCEQ’s jurisdiction can be found at www.tceq.texas.gov.
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