AQMD PROBES CREMATORIUM ODOR; INSPECTORS DETECT SMELL AT GRAND VIEW MEMORIAL PARK.Byline: Lee Condon Staff Writer The South Coast Air Quality Management District The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), formed in 1976, is the air pollution agency responsible mainly for regulating stationary sources of air pollution for most of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside County, and all of Orange county. has issued a notice of violation against Grand View Memorial Park because inspectors smelled a foul odor coming from the cemetery's crematorium cre·ma·to·ri·um n. pl. cre·ma·to·ri·ums or cre·ma·to·ri·a A furnace or establishment for the incineration of corpses. crematorium Noun pl -riums or during a recent visit, an agency spokesman said Thursday. ``On Aug. 19, we received a complaint from neighbors, and our inspectors went out and detected odors Odors anosmia Medicine. the absence of the sense of smell; olfactory anesthesia. Also called anosphrasia. — anosmic, adj. halitosis bad breath; an unpleasant odor emanating from the mouth. coming from the facility. On the 24th of August, we sent (the cemetery) a notice of violation,'' said Bill Kelly, an AQMD AQMD Air Quality Management District AQMD Action Quake Map Depot spokesman. Neighbors say they have been complaining for more than a year about a foul odor coming from the crematorium. In July, they complained at a Glendale City Council meeting, and the AQMD has since launched an investigation. However, in their first several visits, inspectors did not detect the smell neighbors were complaining about. Joe Conway, one of the residents who live nearby, said he was glad inspectors finally detected the odor that has bothered his family. ``(The inspectors) hung out with us in our neighbor's back yard for four hours. They had never smelled the odor before. They probably thought we were crazy,'' Conway said. At this point, the violation allegation has been handed over to AQMD prosecutors who will decide how to proceed, if at all, against Grand View. Grand View Memorial Vice President Marcia Howard could not be reached for comment Thursday. Howard previously has denied that there has ever been an odor problem at the crematorium, but she said she would cooperate with AQMD investigators. Kelly said odors violating AQMD regulations are considered a public nuisance public nuisance n. a nuisance which affects numerous members of the public or the public at large, as distinguished from a nuisance which only does harm to a neighbor or a few private individuals. . A violation carries a maximum fine of up to $50,000 a day. Kelly said AQMD prosecutors likely would try to work out a settlement deal with Grand View Memorial Park, which would include provisions calling for elimination of the odor problem. In an attempt to respond to the complaints from neighbors about the odor, AQMD officials have completed two ``source tests'' at the crematorium to determine whether there are any improper emissions. Kelly said Grand View passed its first test, which looked at levels of smoke, carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. , volatile organic compounds volatile organic compound Environment Any toxic cabon-based (organic) substance that easily become vapors or gases–eg, solvents–paint thinners, lacquer thinner, degreasers, dry cleaning fluids and nitrogen oxides in the crematorium's emissions. ``The results of the pollution test do not show any violations of their permit,'' Kelly said. The results of a second test, which looks for toxic pollutants pollutants see environmental pollution. , will not be available for three more weeks, Kelly said. |
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