Tracking down a foul odor

More than eight months after the Southwest Clean Air Agency began its investigation into acrid, nausea-inducing fumes downtown linked to Albina Fuel, complaints keep coming, but results have yet to emerge.

The agency, following at least a dozen complaints and an Amtrak employee being sent to the hospital, has been studying the strong petroleum smell from Albina’s liquid asphalt storage and oil-processing facility at West Eighth and Hill streets downtown.

Agency Executive Director Bob Elliott had said in December that the work should be done by the end of February, but he said this week that short staffing, a difficulty collecting some data and a desire to do thorough work have delayed the investigation.

“Other industries are watching how we do this,” the environmental regulation agency director said. “If they feel we haven’t been careful and thoughtful in our decisions, it could have a chilling effect on business.”

Southwest Clean Air is working to complete an investigation determining if the pollution is indeed coming from Albina, if it counts as either a public health hazard or as a nuisance odor, and if the company is using equipment that’s up to standards, he said.

At the heart of the issue is the Vancouver Amtrak terminal, which lies a stone’s throw across the tracks from the Albina operation. Employees at the train station have long contended that when workers open rail car hatches containing 300-degree liquid asphalt to release the pressure of built-up gases, the terminal, which is often downwind from Albina, is overcome with fumes.

Complaints from passengers and employees are common enough that staff keep a form for people to fill out, describing their symptoms. A binder, an inch-and-a-half thick, lists headaches, nausea, itchy eyes and other maladies. Amtrak has turned copies over to the clean air authority’s investigators.

However, when winds blow in the right direction, people as far as downtown’s Vancouvercenter have mentioned smelling the petroleum.

The odors alone do not prove that there’s any immediate threat to public health, said Southwest Clean Air operations manager Randy Peltier.

Expert gets a whiff

Three more official complaints have been called directly into the agency since January, bringing the total number of complaints to 15 since 2002, according to public records obtained by The Columbian. The most recent was on July 2, and was the first time an air quality specialist from Southwest Clean Air was able to get to the location in time to smell it himself.

“I walked around the Amtrak station and the odor was very pungent and a bit nauseating,” air quality specialist Brian Fallon wrote in a report.

Fallon said that Albina’s director, Jeff Arntson, did not return a call. But the air quality inspector did meet with the Albina terminal manager, who confirmed the company had opened the hatches on the rail cars 45 minutes earlier.

“I asked (the terminal manager) if he thought the odors could be coming from another source,” Fallon wrote. “He confirmed that the odors were most likely coming from the rail cars. He said it is part of the process.”

Fallon noted on another form that “I would consider it a nuisance” — a possible punishable violation under Southwest Clean Air regulations.

Part of the investigation focuses on whether Albina is using equipment and tanks that have standards comparable with similar companies around the Western United States, Elliott said. That is the portion of the investigation that is taking the longest to complete. Albina hired consultant Candee Hatch of Bridgewater Group Inc. in Lake Oswego to report on other companies’ practices, and she has yet to turn in the document. The Southwest Clean Air Agency employee assigned to that report has also been unable to complete his part of the work, Elliott said.

Elliott defended Albina’s having chosen the consultant who is helping determine whether the company may face sanctions, saying his agency has long worked with Hatch and trust her expertise. Agency staff will also verify the findings, he said.

“We’d be able to catch anything where they’ve picked the worst of the lot” to make Albina’s operations look better, he said.

Neither Arntson nor Hatch returned calls late this week for comment.

Peltier said that numerous other industrial operations around Albina, plus a company across the river that handles oil, could be causing some of the pollution.

However, without looking at the agency’s database, he said Southwest Clean Air gets more complaints about Albina than any other nearby company. Agency documents also show that when every complaint from Amtrak was lodged, winds were calm or blowing at a slow speed from the south-southeast — placing the station in the direct path of the gases.

Determining nuisance smells is difficult, as what is unbearable to one person may not be noticed by another, Elliott said. For example, he said, the smell of coffee roasting is unbearable to him.

“We need to determine if it’s just upsetting them or affecting their health,” Elliott said.

Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said her company is monitoring the investigation.

“Our concerns are first and foremost for the safety and security of our passengers,” she said. “Even if it’s a smell. … If they’re inconvenienced in any way, we work diligently to fix it.”

Elliott said that even though the investigation is five months past his original 90-day deadline, he thinks the work should be done by the summer’s end.

“Yes, it has taken awhile, but it’s going to lead to a better understanding on our part,” he said. “We want people to know that there have been quality, thoughtful decision-making efforts.”

Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.