News Brief: Mayor Says Town Will Sue Landfill Companies Over Smell Problems

During a press conference this morning at the , Mayor Joseph Polisena announced that the town plans to file suit against Broadrock Energy LLC, the company charged with drawing gases out of the Central Landfill, and , to address ongoing odor problems from the state's largest landfill.

Flanked by members of the town's General Assembly delegation, town officials, and police officers, Polisena recounted the recent problems with odors emanating from the Central Landfill and gave credit to the current management of Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation for trying to address the issue and inform residents.

"RIRRC was continuing to work on the problems," Polisena said, noting the steps taken by the company since September. "There was still no relief, no improvement."

Polisena explained that local and state officials have been meeting on the problem, including a session with Gov. Lincoln Chafee held on Wednesday, and consulting with state health officials.

"The odor at this point in time is not causing a health issue for residents," Polisena said.

But when local officials met with Broadrock representatives, Polisena said, "they appeared not to have any reasonable explanation" for why the gas emissions have not stopped.

"Their response was 'Let's see where we are in 6 to 10 weeks from now,'" Polisena explained. "Totally, totally unacceptable — we simply can not take it any more. We have been gentlemen and gentlewomen, we have kept our cool [but] we absolutely can not — and will not — wait for another 6 to 8 weeks to see where we are with this odor problem."