VAN BUREN, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The Auction House Event Center was packed tonight with dozens of River Valley residents gathering to discuss a lawsuit against Denali Water Solutions and a newly added defendant, SSS of Crawford County, LLC.
The lawsuit focuses on a problem that residents say has been persistent for years: the smell of a nearby lagoon, operated by Denali Water Solutions, which is used to process organic material and create fertilizer for agricultural use.
“In August, it was a really, really foul smell in Fort Smith,” said Joey McCutchen, a local attorney, who is leading the lawsuit against Denali Water Solutions.
According to an October statement from Denali Water Solutions, the company says ” in Van Buren, we operate a lagoon where we process the food residuals into valuable agriculture inputs, providing local farmers with nutrient-rich fertilizer to stimulate plant growth. As we work on cleaning this lagoon, we recognize that at times, aspects of agriculture can produce odors since the creation of fertilizers from organics involves a process of breaking down materials, which is likely the smell that residents are noticing.”
Mike Faucher, a River Valley resident, lives only a couple hundred feet away from where the lagoon is located. He says on Thanksgiving, he could hardly cook his food outdoors without feeling sick from the scent.
“I’ve put out chicken litter. I’ve smelt chicken litter. I’ve spread chicken litter and there’s nothing, no smell that compares to it. It’s just gagging,” Faucher said.
Faucher says it’s also affected his property. Since dealing with the smell, he’s attempted to sell but has been unsuccessful.
“I’ve lost the opportunity to sell my farm. The other day, I had a gentleman that was going to do some improvements and buy my place… whenever he found that out, he bailed on me,” Faucher said.
It’s something that he says has costed him a lot of money and will possibly affect when he is able to retire.
“I want to retire. I’m very close to retirement age and this was one of my exit plans, and it’s spoiled now, I can’t do it until we get rid of the smell,” Faucher said.
Further, one resident, who is the primary plaintiff on the lawsuit, says the smell is disturbing has affected his business for years.
“I contacted an attorney in 2019 and asked if we could send them a letter to get it to stop, and we heard back pretty quickly that there were only a few more days left of it, and it would go away and it would be gone forever,” said Bruce Spinas, owner of River City Bistro in Fort Smith.
Spinas says on the days when the smell is at its worst, no customers want to sit on the patio of River City Bistro.
“I lose 20% of my seating whenever that happens. So, you know that that that hurts, when you can’t see people… I spoke with a group of six pilots one day who were in town for the Air Force base, and their question to me was ‘does it always smell like this?'” said Faucher.
At Monday night’s townhall meeting, McCutchen said he believes that the lawsuit could become much larger.
“Our goal is to make it a class action. and we’re hearing from many, many people,” McCutchen said.
KNWA reached out to Denali Water Solutions, but it were unable to provide a comment before the meeting.
You can read the lawsuit in its entirety below.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
