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News
TewksburyOdor.org and odor problem
#2 story of the 2007 - Tewksbury Advocate
Lodging
Complaints:
“I wish to lodge a complaint about the piggery odor”, followed by
the day time and location and an assessment of the odor strength.
978-640-4470 ext. 230
bwestaway@town.tewksbury.ma.us
Letter from Rep. Miceli's Office
Dear Residents of Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Surrounding
Towns, On behalf of Chairman Miceli, I am writing in
response to the outpouring of calls and emails our office
has recently received regarding the foul odor at Krochmal
Farm. The Chairman would like to reiterate that we read
every email that comes into the office and keep all
complaints on file. Also, please feel free to call the
office as well. We always want to hear from you and
encourage you to contact us in the method that makes you
feel most comfortable.
Please understand that Chairman Miceli is just as
frustrated as you are that the the issue of the odor has not
been resolved, and even seems to have worsened with the
advent of the warm weather.
A representative from our office will be at the Tewksbury
Board of Health meeting that
the farm owners will be testifying at. Also, we are scheduled
to have a roundtable follow-up meeting in June here at the
State House. Hopefully, all major agencies involved in the
last discussion roundtable will attend this one as well. We
shall meet to discuss what actions have been taken to
improve the odor thus far. Since that is a month away, this
office will continue to diligently work with the Tewksbury
Board of Health and the state agencies involved in the
meantime.
I know how frustrating this is for everyone. Chairman
Miceli knows, and is sympathetic to, the fact that this
affects every aspect of your lives. He has witnessed the
odor from the farm himself. Even I have smelled it from the
highway while inside my car with the windows closed. He is
outraged that residents of his district cannot enjoy
their homes and yards, and in addition, suffer emotional
strain from dealing with the stench.
Chairman Miceli will continue to be actively involved and
on your side until this is resolved. He will continue to do
everything in his power to work with the agencies involved
and the towns to rectify this problem.
Thank you. Elizabeth C. Sousa, Esq.
Staff Director/Chief of Staff
State Representative James R. Miceli
19 Middlesex District – Tewksbury and Wilmington
Chairman, Committee on Personnel and Administration
The State House, Room 448
Boston, Massachusetts 02133-1054
Tel: (617) 722-2582 Fax: (617) 722-2879
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Welcome to
TewksburyOdor.org
 Everyone
knows that farms have "normal" odors. This neighborhood is primarily
made up of long-time residents who accepted that. Most living in houses
which predate the piggery. No one has a problem with normal farm
smells coming from the farm's fertilizing or the petting zoo. The
problem is the extremely repugnant, unreasonable stench and
pollution1, from
the recently industrialized and expanded piggery part of the farm. The
recently constructed confined feeding and waste storage facility with
it's massive waste-holding tank and exhaust fans is ruining the quality
of life of people from this residential section of Tewksbury, Wilmington
and Andover just outside of Boston. Hundreds of families often can't
open their own windows for fresh air. They can't make plans for
cookouts, parties or gatherings without the threat of a nose-burning
odor sending guests indoors or fleeing the neighborhood. The
people working at businesses in Andover, adjacent to here, cannot go
outside for lunch! This website and organization would not exist if this
were a normal farm odor. Read the testimonials of the residents
here.
There has been farm odors here for a long time. In general people didn't
care as much because the odors weren't as severe or as frequent as they
are now. The extreme odor problems began about two years ago precisely
after the piggery constructed the large pig confinement and waste
storage structure which the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources admits
is "not prevalent in Massachusetts where pig farms are generally
smaller". This building, which is designed to hold roughly twice as
many animals as the piggery is permitted for, has large fans which force
the gases that emanate from the pigs' waste into the air of a
suburban residential neighborhood. This waste is kept directly below
the pigs in a large, open, storage tank that holds about a HALF MILLION
GALLONS OF WASTE adjacent to wetlands and only a matter of feet from
homes. The fans keep the pigs from being asphyxiated and poisoned by
these gases, and the neighbors pay the price. This building was
constructed without building permits, without oversight from the
Conservation Commission or Board of Health and without due process
afforded to abutters.
Right to Farm = Property Rights Taking Without Compensation
We understand that well-run farms that follow regulations must be
protected from unreasonable lawsuits, etc. No one in this group has any
problem with well-run farms. Most people here would support the
"Right to Farm" law if such extremes in pollution and odor were not
permitted. But we are now realizing that we are being run over by
the Massachusetts "Right to Farm" law which seems to give carte blanche
to anything can be loosely called a "farm".
Krochmal Farms has:
- ...allowed horrible odors to waft into the air of Tewksbury,
Wilmington and Andover, taking away constitutional property rights
of hundreds or even thousands of people.
- ...built a large structure with a half-million gallon waste
holding tank without ANY oversight from the town.
- ...a cow corral abutting a swamp with waste running off into the
wetland.
- ...spread manure (without incorporating it into the soil) on
land very near wetlands against DAR "Best Management Practices".
Many courts across the country are now finding these "Right to Farm"
laws unconstitutional because they essentially allow a "taking" of
property rights. In other words they can fill YOUR property with odors
and pollution without compensation, leaving you unable to use your own
property, while taking away your the right to fight against it. It's
unconstitutional on it's face. These laws also allow for pollution of
air and water that any other business would be punished for. One might
ask why the USDA, the MDAR and decent farmers don't take heed of what's
happening for the sake of their own good reputation.
Odors and emissions from piggeries are
preventable and we don't know why the
people of this area are forced to suffer when
modern odor reduction measures exist.
Many piggeries no longer smell; read about them
here. We have to ask why the owners
of this piggery subject so many people to this terrible stench when
these solutions exist. We also don't know why the owner's and
managers of Krochmal Piggery refuse to communicate openly with the
thousands of people who live here. The tone and the frustration
level of the neighbors here would be entirely different if they did.
Unfortunately they only give lawyer-prepared statements to newspapers.
This website is here for the frustrated people Tewksbury, Wilmington and
Andover. If Krochmal Farms communicated openly and worked with neighbors
it wouldn't be here and this group would assist the farm in finding
solutions.
Some Questions:
- Why doesn't Krochmal Farms seem to care about it's hundreds of unhappy
neighbors? They don't readily respond to their neighbors. They rarely, if
ever, speak to the press. Why?
- Why has it been stated that the farm is following "Best Management
Practices" when tons of pig manure were spread on fields surrounded by a
flood zone, where the water table is extremely high? The MDAR's "Best
Management Practices state that manure shouldn't be left sitting out in
areas 200 feet from wetlands.1
Virtually ALL of the land where Krochmal Farms puts it's manure is within
200 feet of wetlands.
- Why does the Mass. DAR say the farm is following "Standard Agricultural
Practices" in their letter to our BOH while admitting they didn't fully
inspect the farm?2
The MDAR admits it didn't fully inspect the area of the farm where
they put and spread the manure and yet filed a report saying the farm was
complying with "Standard Agricultural Practices".
- Why is the MDAR suddenly and repeatedly using the term "Standard
Agricultural Practices" instead of "Best Management Practices" which they
used in numerous letters for months?
- Why doesn't the farm utilize the various methods of
eliminating the odors? And if they have, why
did it smell worse than ever last summer and fall?
Our Goal:
We demand clean air and water in our
neighborhood.
We demand to have our constitutional property
rights returned. |
