Complaint ID 103101 — Public Copy

On March 16, 2023, Ms. Kelly Thomas, Director of Environmental Affairs Darling Ingredients, Inc. (Darling) sent me an e-mail and also emphasized that Darling immediately initiates a thorough investigation in response to each malodor complaint received from the community. She further stated that in addition to reviewing ambient weather data, Darling attempts to visit the general location as soon as a complaint is received to confirm the source. For this reason, timely reporting of all complaints received is imperative to the investigation. Finally, Ms. Thomas advised that moving forward, Darling requests that GA EPD provide general complaint information to Darling as soon as possible. This information she said would include, (but not limited to), general location of complainant, time of detection, and a description of the detection (character, duration, intensity, etc.).

Mr. Buddy Coleman, general manager of Darling Ingredients, Inc in East Dublin sent me an e-mail yesterday, March 15, 2023. In his e-mail, he said after reviewing the facility's records, the facility appeared to have been operating normally the day prior to, and the day of the complaint. He also stated that without any more information being provided, such as time of day or direction from the complainant, Darling cannot perform a more thorough odor investigation as is normal protocol. On that note, I have asked Mr. Coleman to check whether the complainant's address provided could help in determining proximity and direction from the facility and probably deduce something out of that.

On March 13, 2023, at 12:37 PM, I called Mr. Buddy Coleman, the General Manager of Darling Ingredients, Inc. East Dublin, and told him about a complaint the Division received from a resident in East Dublin. I gave the complaint receipt date of March 8, 2023. Mr. Coleman said it has been raining a lot lately, but he does not see any correlation between rains and odors. Also, the facility does not work on weekends. Equipment is shut down and no raw materials are left outside. Mr. Coleman said, there has been no report of equipment breakdown or malfunction, but he would look at the equipment functions log of the facility's scrubbers and RTO to see if there was any malfunction or abnormal reading in the past week or so. Mr. Coleman said he would get back to me on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, or 15th and let me know of his findings.

referred to Air branch.