Neighbors complain as smell rules rolled back

[thelakelander]

The rotten-egg stench that hovered over Jacksonville was so strong that it drove people indoors when wind blew toward their homes.

Even high up in the sky, the odor seeped into the cabins of airplanes descending for a landing, giving passengers a foul whiff of the city before the planes ever touched down.

Florida visitors who passed through Jacksonville on Interstate 95 left the state with memories of its beaches and theme parks on the one hand, and Jacksonville's stink on the other. A resident once described it as akin to being locked inside a portable toilet at the county fair.

City Councilman Tommy Hazouri was mayor when he pushed through tough odor regulations during his term in office from 1987-91.

Looking back at that time, Hazouri says half-jokingly that in those days, a Florida souvenir map showing illustrations of rockets launching from NASA and marlins leaping in coastal waters would have had a scratch-and-sniff patch where Jacksonville is located.

"It was horrible," Hazouri says.

Hazouri sat in a conference room last week and approvingly watched the city's Environmental Protection Board take a milestone vote on the long fight against odor. The board abolished a rule enacted in 1991 that specifically set an extra layer of regulations for manufacturing plants that use crude sulfate turpentine, which was the worst source of the stench afflicting the city. It marked the first time the city has eliminated an odor rule outright.

Full article: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-09-20/story/neighbors-complain-smell-rules-rolled-back?utm_source=cx

[Gunnar]

Was the smell really gone by '91 ?

Oddly, while the smell was not exactly pleasant (to put it kindly), I still somewhat fondly associated with Jacksonville. I guess since it was in 90/91 when I lived here.

[Overstreet]

Since the paper industry is so severely limited in the US by EPA regulations I doubt that it will come back.