Bristol, Virginia, requests help from state, federal agencies for landfill odors

Officials in Bristol, Virginia, have requested help from state and federal leaders to stifle odors at a local landfill.

In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), City Manager Randall Eads reveals that city leaders avoided contacting federal and state agencies until it exhausted all options regarding the odor radiating from the Bristol, Virginia, landfill.

However, the letter reads, after completing all recommendations from private contractors such as Richmond, Virginia-based Draper Aden Associates and Long Beach, California-based SCS Engineers, the odor continues to wreak havoc on community members and “creates a lower quality of life for [the] community.”

As reported by the Bristol Herald Courier, odors from the landfill significantly increased in the early fall of 2020 and have continued through early 2022.

“The city is aware of requests from a group of citizens seeking to have your agency revoke the permit of Bristol, Virginia, to operate a solid waste disposal facility. The community group is of the opinion the city does not have qualified management or staff members to rectify the situation,” Eads toldthe newspaper. “While I understand their position, no member of the city council or city management is a landfill expert. The city has hired experts to assist us with our landfill. The city has listened to and implemented the recommendations suggested by our experts and the regulatory agencies in order to correct the odors. Today, the odors still exist, and without further expert advice, I do not foresee the odors being eliminated in the near future.”

Eads also outlined past suggestions that have failed to resolve the odor, including doubling the number of gas wells in the landfill.

“Before the city expends additional taxpayer dollars on additional gas wells that may not improve the odor situation, it is the city’s opinion that our regulatory agencies provide us a path forward or provide us with the appropriate expertise to resolve this matter,” Eads told the newspaper. “The city of Bristol, Virginia, is respectfully requesting the Environmental Protection Agency and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to take a more active role in seeking experts to educate the city council and management team members on how to rectify the odor situation.”