After receiving the earlier statement from Covanta about the overnight incident at the plant, we followed up with a question about the odor that has been reported throughout the day by lots of people.

After prior incidents at the plant, there have been reports of a burning toxic odor, but Covanta has always claimed it wasn’t coming from the plant.

Today, for the first time, Covanta has taken responsibility for the odor, but only for odor that people reported today.

Here is the statement:

With a complete loss of power to the facility, we are unable to run the fans that control odors from the facility.  When the facility shut down, we extinguished the fire in the boilers and there remains some residual smoke in the boiler house. We are working hard to mitigate odors and restore power to the facility. This situation is different than previous events, where we had some power that allowed the fans to continue to run.

That generates some questions.

If an odor was being released from the plant, why wasn’t the public notified? Even if the odor is harmless, wouldn’t it be prudent to not have people worry? Or allow them to decide for themselves what is best for themselves and their families?

Were local officials notified? If not, why not?

More to come.