NEWS

Company covers costs of odor response, investigation

Beth LeBlanc
Lansing State Journal

A St. Clair Township woman facing a $2,800 bill for calling the fire department several times to report what she believed was a hazardous odor just got a reprieve.

Sunoco Logistics said Wednesday it would pay Venessa Davis’ bill.

Marysville firefighters responded to Davis’ home on Murphy Drive several times in 2014 when she complained of an odor coming from the Sunoco Logistics crude oil tank farm down the street.

When no air quality hazards were detected, St. Clair Township billed Davis $400 per run for seven “false alarm” runs.

After learning of Davis’ situation from the Times Herald, Sunoco Logistics said it would pay Davis’ fees.

“We have asked St. Clair Township to bill Sunoco Logistics for the emergency response calls that were originally charged to Mrs. Davis,” Jeff Shields, a spokesman for the company, said in an email.

“While we’re confident that any odor issues surrounding our Marysville facility had been addressed by late January, neither the township nor Mrs. Davis should suffer financial hardship as an indirect result of any past odor issues.”

Marysville Department of Public Safety Chief Tom Konik said firefighters, at times, were able to smell the odor when they responded several times in 2014, but elevated levels did not register on their air quality meters.

The meters measure for oxygen, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide and combustible gases.

“There was a couple times we did pick up readings, but it was so minute that it was never a hazard,” Konik said.

He said the fire department labeled the incidents as “good intent calls.”

The township considered them false alarms and charged Davis $400 per run for seven of eight calls she made between April and September. Six of the runs were made in September.

The township’s retainer fee for fire coverage from Marysville is $9,500 a year, plus $176 a run.

Patricia Miskus, township treasurer, said the township charges $400 for every run resulting from a fire or false alarm.

Miskus said the fire department gives them a report of runs once a year, so the township wasn’t able to give Davis a bill for the calls until February.

Davis said she wasn’t aware of the township’s $400 fee until she got a bill for seven runs.

“I will not call the fire department again at $400,” Davis said.

“Our protections are now gone…Once you know you’ll be charged $400 a pop, who in their right mind would call even for a hazardous odor?”

Davis said she felt the township should have fined Sunoco Logistics under its nuisance ordinance.

The township’s ordinance allows for fines for nuisances, including odors that affect a person’s ability to use or enjoy their property.

Township Supervisor Brian Mahaffy said he’s unable to issue a ticket under the ordinance for lack of evidence of the odor, or its source.

“I have to prove that whatever smell at whatever time she’s calling is coming from that tank farm,” Mahaffy said.

“…I can’t write a ticket because my evidence is what the fire department and the DEQ says and they said they’ve detected no hazardous odors.”

Sheilds said after Sunoco Logistics received odor complaints from tank farm neighbors last fall, the company did a comprehensive assessment of the facility. He said the company made improvements to eliminate any possible sources of odors.

“Also, in that time period, we performed extensive monitoring to determine whether the facility’s operations posed health hazards to the surrounding community, and shared air monitoring data on a regular basis with the community and local officials,” Shields said in an email.

“The results of our air monitoring confirmed no detectable levels of hazardous air constituents in the community above applicable standards.”

Shields said on Jan. 23 the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality performed an unannounced inspection of the tank farm. It found that the facility was compliant with air rules and regulations.

Contact Beth LeBlanc at (810) 989-6259, eleblanc@gannett.com, or on Twitter @THBethLeBlanc.