WEST WYOMING, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Something stinks in a part of Luzerne County, and residents say their quality of life is being destroyed by that odor. The smell is coming from a business which admits it is the source of the problem.
The company at the center of the concerns and controversy is KB Crash Creations in West Wyoming.
Company officials say they have taken steps to mitigate the odor problems and insist they want to be a good neighbor, but many residents say they just want the odor to go away once and for all.
"My poor family and the residents are experiencing lung and eye irritation when we're outside for more than five minutes. My poor children, who are under 10, can't even spend five minutes outside," a West Wyoming resident told 28/22 News.
28/22 News spoke with a man who lives about a block away from KB Crash Creations in West Wyoming. He and other neighbors came to a hearing in district court on Wednesday to testify about what they are experiencing with the odor, which they describe as a citrus-orange smell.
West Wyoming and Wyoming Borough officials filed quality of life citations against the company in recent months after receiving dozens of complaints from residents.
KB Crash Creations specializes in making kratom extracts, an organic material used in a wide variety of products, including tea.
Lindo Sabatini owns a restaurant several blocks from the company. He testified at the court hearing.
"I just was hoping the court case today would bring an end to some problem we've been having. Our area like a toxic smells and odors that, once and a while, we'll walk out of the restaurant, you just feel it in your chest, some like burn," Sabatini explained.
The company's attorney called several witnesses, including inspectors from the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) who testified that the company is not violating any air quality standards. Plus, it installed specialized air filters to control the odor.
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"Well, we not only want the judge but we also want the residents to recognize we did in fact take significant steps to mitigate and abate the smell, which is an orange citric smell in the area," Attorney Michael McCarrie, representing KB Crash Creations, stated.
But the attorney for Wyoming Borough says that the odor problem is not going away.
"We want the judge to know that the residents are suffering, their quality of life is affected in both West Wyoming and Wyoming because of the smell they have outside their home every single day. It's a matter of exiting their house and being hit in the face with the smell that is not pleasant," Attorney Laura Dennis-Bovani, for the Wyoming Borough Solicitor, explained.
The judge wants to review more evidence in the case and continues the hearing to Monday morning.
If the company is found guilty of violating these quality of life citations, it will face fines. They can appeal the judge's decision.
