RE: DEQ Violation Letter

From: Gerald Fisher

Sent: Fri Aug 28 15:10:19 2020

To: Jody Newland

Subject: RE: DEQ Violation Letter

Importance: Normal

Attachments: image001.jpg;

We had 2 months of ammonia violations and 4 months of BOD violations. We violated for various reasons for 6 straight months because we were discharging to the river and the restrictive permit limits are tied to the river. Notice that BOD stops in April. In May we could start irrigating and that is also when we began biosolids removal again. We couldn’t start biosolids removal while going to the river because we knew it would upset the treatment plant even more than the hits we got. Think of it as shaking an unopened can of pop. Better let it sit for a while otherwise its gonna be bad. Problem for us is that there is never enough time to let it sit between biosolids removal and the need to discharge to the river. Lose-lose scenario and DEQ knows it.

Regards,

Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director

City of Molalla

117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038

Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218

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From: Jody Newland <jnewland@cityofmolalla.com>

Sent: Friday, August 28, 2020 3:04 PM

To: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: Re: DEQ Violation Letter

Thank you, Gerald.

That helps me to understand better.

Does this make our 3rd violation then in the past 12 months? And is this current one the only one they actually issued a fine for, rather than asking us to re-invest the violation back into upgrades for the plant?

From: Gerald Fisher

Sent: Friday, August 28, 2020 2:40 PM

To: Jody Newland; Keith Swigart; Leota Childress; Elizabeth Klein; DeLise Palumbo; Terry Shankle; Crystal Robles

Cc: Dan Huff

Subject: RE: DEQ Violation Letter

All,

Needless to say, I’m extremely unhappy with DEQ right now. If they intend to send a Preliminary Notice of Violation or a Notice of Violation, they always send a copy to us via email the same day it goes out in the mail. They didn’t do that with this one and I’m feeling a bit sand-bagged by DEQ and their staff. I consider it poor form and not in the spirit of cooperation between two agencies to do the public’s business.

Our goal is always to meet the permit and we have been in constant contact with DEQ regarding our dilemma with issues surrounding biosolids removal. Unfortunately, it has either fallen on deaf ears or with even more requests to do additional testing for their review. In good faith, we’ve been doing that testing and consulting with our technical experts to make sure we aren’t missing anything. Yet, DEQ has decided to send us the notification and fine us $6,000 for something they know is out of our control. The last thing we need to do is pay $6,000 in fines because it does nothing to address I&I, biosolids, or design and construction of a new plant.

If we had the permit we are supposed to have for our current plant, then ALL of the past violations would not have happened on this latest batch of violations would have only been for one month in BOD violations and the ammonia upset back in November and December. I could go on about ammonia and that the dilution of the river at the point of discharge during November and December likely rendered it a non-issue, but there is no point. I’m drafting an appeal and am currently at seven pages of facts. I’m sure it will be reworded before it goes on to DEQ and Dan will likely share with you once that is done.

Thanks for your continued support for all of our work in Public Works and have a good weekend.

Regards,

Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director

City of Molalla

117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038

Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218

From: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>

Sent: Friday, August 28, 2020 2:07 PM

To: Jody Newland <jnewland@cityofmolalla.com>; Keith Swigart <kswigart@cityofmolalla.com>; Leota Childress <lchildress@cityofmolalla.com>; Elizabeth Klein <eklein@cityofmolalla.com>; DeLise Palumbo <dpalumbo@cityofmolalla.com>; Terry Shankle <tshankle@cityofmolalla.com>; Crystal Robles <crobles@cityofmolalla.com>

Cc: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: RE: DEQ Violation Letter

We are contacting DEQ regarding this issue and it has happened before. Our understanding is that Bear Creek Recovery (BCR) has a standing public records request to receive any and correspondence regarding Molalla wastewater. So if they send something to us they send it to BCR. In this instance BCR received their notice first. Kind of creates a problem.

I will let Gerald weigh in on the previous fine issues.

From: Jody Newland <jnewland@cityofmolalla.com>

Sent: Friday, August 28, 2020 2:01 PM

To: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>; Keith Swigart <kswigart@cityofmolalla.com>; Leota Childress <lchildress@cityofmolalla.com>; Elizabeth Klein <eklein@cityofmolalla.com>; DeLise Palumbo <dpalumbo@cityofmolalla.com>; Terry Shankle <tshankle@cityofmolalla.com>; Crystal Robles <crobles@cityofmolalla.com>

Cc: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>

Subject: Re: DEQ Violation Letter

Question.

How is this being posted on Facebook sites before the city has even received it? Does DEQ post stuff before they mail the notification to the city? When was our last fine previous to this? Also, how many are we still averaging? 2-3 a year?

From: Dan Huff

Sent: Friday, August 28, 2020 12:51 PM

To: Keith Swigart; Leota Childress; Elizabeth Klein; DeLise Palumbo; Jody Newland; Terry Shankle; Crystal Robles

Cc: Gerald Fisher

Subject: DEQ Violation Letter

Mayor and Council – Attached to this e-mail is a DEQ violation letter we received today August 28, 2020. This letter has previously been posted on two separate Facebook sites prior to our receiving the letter. We have 20 days to appeal, question or ask for adjustments, etc.

These issues are directly attributable to the aggressive biosolid removal we have been conducting over the past few years and we have been in constant contact with DEQ regarding this issue. We have very strict requirements as you all know and the biosolid removal process has created longer term issues as we have discussed with you all regularly. We have had similar issues popping up since 2001. However, we will be going through the letter and preparing an appeal to this violation as well as the permit limits imposed on Molalla by DEQ.

This past Wednesday, a question was asked during the Council meeting regarding whether or not the City is fined by DEQ monthly. That answer is and has always been no. We do have issues with our Treatment Plant that we continuously labor through with staff and DEQ. Kind of the reason why we are moving toward constructing a new plant.

Please let us know if you have questions

Dan Huff

City Manager

City of Molalla, Oregon

(503)829-6855

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