Lawsuit alleges Denali of creating ‘overwhelming fumes’ in Fort Smith metro

A Fort Smith business owner has had enough of an offensive smell permeating the Fort Smith metro. On Friday (Oct. 18) River City Bistro owner Bruce Spinas filed a lawsuit alleging that Denali Water Solutions is responsible for the noxious odor in the area.

The lawsuit, filed in Crawford County Circuit Court by trial lawyers Joey McCutchen, Stephen Napurano and Chip Sexton, alleges Denali has caused the creation of a noxious and harmful nuisance, trespass, and negligence and the resultant economic loss that the noxious fumes and odors have caused.

Area residents have complained about a foul odor throughout the Fort Smith area over the last few weeks. The City of Fort Smith issued a statement Monday (Oct. 14) regarding multiple reports from city residents involving concerns of unpleasant odors in Fort Smith.

“After investigation, we learned that the smell is a result of a lagoon cleanup project in the Arkansas River bottoms in Crawford County. This process involves breaking down food residuals into agriculture inputs, providing local farmers with nutrient-rich fertilizer to stimulate plant growth. The anticipated completion of the lagoon cleanup is within the next 10 days,” the statement from the city said.

Russellville-based water treatment company Denali Water Solutions has stated they are in process of emptying a lagoon where they are repurposing food processing residuals into fertilizer for nearby farms, and this is likely the cause of the smell.

The complaint filed in Crawford County states that Denali operates a storage lagoon or lagoons for organic residuals in Crawford County, “which has been a source of noxious odors affecting residents and property owners.”

“Since approximately August 2024, these persistent and overwhelming fumes have permeated Fort Smith and the surrounding areas, creating an intolerable environment for the community,” the filing states.

The storage lagoon is believed to be a man-made basin used for the temporary storage of organic residuals – byproducts from food processing and other industries that are unsuitable for disposal in traditional wastewater systems, according to the lawsuit.

“The Storage Lagoon creates a manure-like smell that impacts both Sebastian County, Arkansas and Crawford County, Arkansas and makes living outdoors or being outdoors very uncomfortable with poor air quality. The odor created from the Storage Lagoon is pungent and has proximately caused harm to Plaintiffs’ business and the business and life of other residents of Crawford and Sebastian County, Arkansas,” according to the complaint.

The suit claims the products in the lagoon contain “grease, blood, offal and other such biosolids.”

Carol Booth, chief of communications with Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment, said Oct. 15 that Denali began cleaning out a storage lagoon in Crawford County on Sept. 24. The cleanout is permitted through the DEQ. On Oct. 10, the company submitted a report stating what they have done thus far and is in compliance with state regulations.

“A total of 368,276 gallons were land applied on field SS-1 on 9/26/2024 and 9/27/2024. The clean out of the lagoon is still occurring. 3,151,735 gallons have been removed from the lagoon and the lagoon is below freeboard as of today,” the updated report stated.

Paragraph 10 of Permit 5257-WR-2 states that residuals will be stored in the storage lagoon during periods of inclement weather or when [field]/crop conditions are not suitable for land application and the lagoon will be cleaned out “periodically,” Booth said. The contents in the lagoon will be land applied to the land applications sites via a dragline land application system and/or load on to and then spread with a tanker truck, terragator, or tractor and buggy.

Booth said an inspection will be conducted by the DEQ water division to make certain all protocol is followed.

The City of Fort Smith and Denali, which has faced regulatory and legal pushback in other states, had conversations in 2019 about lagoon cleanup and the smells it created.

“(Those organic residuals) from time to time, emitted a bad smell that wafted across neighborhoods of Fort Smith. It’s been unusually intense the last several days as the new landowner removes the residuals and prepares them for removal. The clean-up will culminate in the lagoons being closed permanently, so intermittent faint odors will no longer plague residents at various times of year,” Denali noted in January 2019.

The action filed Friday seeks injunctive relief requiring Denali to cease all operations at the subject storage lagoon until the lagoon is properly remediated to eliminate the noxious odors and harmful emissions. A news release about the lawsuit states that the plaintiff will seek class action status on behalf of other persons and entities who are similarly situated.

“Denali has been polluting the River Valley’s environment for many years. It’s past time that they are held fully and fairly accountable for their continued reckless actions. Their actions have affected the quality of life for many in our River Valley,” McCutchen said.

Denali has not responded to phone calls and emails from Talk Business & Politics.