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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Parts of downtown Des Moines have been so transformed in the past decade with new homes, trendy shops, and microbreweries that it is sometimes difficult to reconcile the present with the not-too-distant past.
But one strong memory of the city’s legacy remains: the stench. A pervasive smell of rancid meat wafts through all the shiny new buildings regularly, a reminder of the region’s less polished history as a pork processing center.
“You can’t escape it,” said Brandon Brown, president of the Des Moines Downtown Neighborhood Association, calling it “very frustrating.”
Many cities eager for new investment and vitality have welcomed urban living and entertainment options into older, drab industrial neighborhoods, only to be surprised by what happens when someone like Brown has moved into an upscale downtown apartment , actually a latte or a meal on an outside patio.
After the problem was downplayed or simply ignored for decades, Des Moines officials recently embarked on an extensive study that will lead to stricter regulations on some smelly manufacturing sites to finally clean the air.
Similar difficulties are encountered in other cities with smelly shops, particularly with rendering crops common in agricultural regions and even in some large cities. Angry local residents are flooding officials with complaints and filing lawsuits while some leading companies install new equipment, make payments to neighbors, or even shut down.
Nobody follows such disputes, but Jacek Koziel, a professor at Iowa State University who studies air quality and livestock smells, said he believed the conflicts could increase. Sometimes, like in Des Moines, it’s because more noses are closer to bad smells, but in other places residents are just more pushing for change.
“It is very common in animal husbandry in general and in meat packing plants or feed processing plants at this time,” said Koziel. “It is very hard. For us engineers we know that there are technologies to minimize the effects, but then all tax realities come into play. “
In Des Moines, residents and workers have been complaining about the smells of an industrial area just a mile from downtown for decades, describing the smell as rotten or similar to animal waste. Brown takes a more benevolent view and describes the smell as “yeasty”.
Typically, people blame two companies: pork processor Pine Ridge Farms and rendering company Darling Ingredients. Although the city set up a scent board and hotline, their efforts were ineffective and largely abandoned until recently when people moving into expensive apartments that had replaced warehouses and junk yards complained of nauseating smells that regularly haunted settled in their neighborhood.
City officials agree there is a problem but say they need more data before deciding what to do.
“You need to know what the truth is and then execute the plans for each of the industries,” said SuAnn Donovan, assistant director of Des Moines neighborhood services. The new study will take air samples and establish a baseline for air quality.
Iowa is an agricultural powerhouse, and Donovan quickly realizes the city wants to partner with Pine Ridge, Darling, and more.
Darling did not respond to a query about his Des Moines stores.
Pine Ridge Farms is owned by meat industry giant Smithfield, who said in a statement that its pork factory, which employs about 1,000 people, opened in 1937 and slaughters about 4,000 pigs a day. As more people moved nearby, the company invested millions of dollars in new technology, such as air treatment devices, to reduce odors.
“We also follow a strict daily cleaning schedule during and after each production run,” the statement said. “At the end of each week we do a deep cleaning from top to bottom to reduce odor to a minimum.”
Despite efforts to reduce odors, cleaning is an especially pungent business. The plants use heat, centrifuges, and other techniques to convert animal waste tissue into fats and proteins for many purposes, including animal feed, fertilizers, and cosmetics. According to recent estimates, there are more than 200 plants in the US and Canada.
In Fresno, California, a community group filed a lawsuit against a Darling rendering plant, which produced such a strong odor that residents complained of health problems. Last year the company agreed to close the plant. Another rendering facility near the suburb of Rancho Cordova, Sacramento, which had been in operation for more than 50 years, also decided to close after discovering it could not coexist with new nearby homes.
Carcass processing facilities in an industrial area of Los Angeles have been instructed to adhere to strict new rules. And in Denver, where new urban development was particularly extensive, there were sharp clashes between new residents and old industries.
“The people who move in are savvy and not afraid to complain,” said Greg Thomas, the city’s environmental quality director.
Residents of South St. Paul, Minnesota, filed a class action lawsuit over smoke from a rendering plant, and neighbors received payments of up to $ 1,000 as part of a $ 750,000 settlement.
Even so, smells of rancid meat remain.
“The lawsuit didn’t seem to make a difference,” said Chris Robinson, who lives less than a mile from the plant. “Just last night my husband couldn’t sit outside on the deck. It’s still very bad. “
Brown of Des Moines said with new outdoor projects, from a soccer stadium to a white water rafting course, the city has no choice but to purify the air.
“You don’t want the smell to spoil the experience,” Brown said.
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Follow Scott McFetridge on Twitter: https://twitter.com/smcfetridge
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