Questions 'awful, nauseating odor' from landfill

Editor:

Each day as I drive to Thomson to work I smell an awful, gassy smell as I approach the weigh station just west of the Grovetown exit. I have lived in Columbia County long enough to know I am near the Columbia County landfill, and often wonder if it is gas given off by the landfill. I smell the gas each day as I come home, just past the weigh station and just before I exit in Grovetown.

Has this been questioned before? I usually hold my breath and try to pass through the nauseating odor as quickly as possible. My eyes also burn and tear as I pass through this location. It causes me fear for my unborn child, as I am expecting in March. Anything that smells that strong and terrible cannot be healthy.

I would like an answer to this question.

Heidi Florentine

Evans

(Editors note: Donnie Bartles, Columbia Countys solid waste management director, says Health-wise, there is nothing emanating from the landfill that is harmful to breathe. The smell, while unpleasant, is the natural byproduct of the decomposition of 200-300 tons per day of solid waste that is buried at the 75-acre landfill, vented through pipes located on the property.)