Cottage Grove, OR

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Cottage Grove, OR is a town in Lane County, OR near the city of Eugene. For three decades, the city has applied its treated sewage sludge to land as a means of disposing of it. It has applied the sludge in the same location since 2003. However, in 2011, the terrible smell of the sludge made headlines for a full month and led to anti-sludge petitions and threats of lawsuits from residents.

Sewage Sludge Issue in Cottage Grove

Complaints About Odor

Here are excerpts of complaints about sewage sludge odor in Cottage Grove in 2011:

• "This is how it is day and night. It smells like all the residents of Cottage Grove are taking a crap in a field right down the road." - Craig Pataky
• "The stench is unbearable for some of these residents, their daily routines ruined by a strong odor seeping into their neighborhood from less than a mile away... It was so acrid that I had a severe headache. Never have a bad headache. And I was that close to throwing up." - Les Moore
• "Sickening, nauseating." - Ted Maki."
• ""Our quality of life has gone down practically to zero. We cannot function outside of our homes." - Sharon Tobiasson
• ""It smells just like an outhouse to me... Would you want to sit six hours in an outhouse?... I don't think anybody should be living in that kind of a smell for 30 days" - Gary Ordway.
• "Sickening, very sickening, it's nauseating... I don't know what stuff this does seeping into the ground water with all that kind of junk that's in that sewage." - Ted Maki
• "The smell has kept us from doing our normal activities. I think this is the first time my wife has sat on this patio because of the smell." Nathan Randal
• "It smells like a ripe, an over-ripe outhouse...Depending on on which way the wind blows, it's still going out a mile or two... By the time I came in, I had a fierce headache, and I was about ready to heave." - Les Moore
• "The smell is very nauseating, and it's very strong, and it even burns in your throat." - Peggy Eikman
• "My kids are trapped in the house in the summertime. We don't have air conditioning in our house. I'm unable to open my windows. I feel like prisoners in our own home." - a Cottage Grove father of four.
• "I have to wear a mask with peppermint oils when we go outside to work in our fields -- we have a produce farm -- because I cannot work outside." - A Cottage Grove farmer.

Articles and Resources

Other SourceWatch resources

• Sewage Sludge
• Food Rights Network
• Biosolids
• The EPA's plan to bypass opposition to sewage sludge disposal
• Water Environment Federation
• You say biosolids, I say sewage sludge
• Scientific Studies of Sewage Sludge
• Sewage sludge giveaways, producers, and brands
• Sludge contaminants
• Sludge News
• Sewage Sludge Primer

External Articles

• Kate Renner, ""Stop Our Stench" Group Petitions the State," KEZI, August 22, 2011.
• Crystal Price, "City Council called to odor: 'The smell is very nauseating', KVAL, August 9, 2011.
• Saul Hubbard, "Residents to voice sludge concerns: They’ll express their displeasure about the smell to the Cottage Grove City Council," The Register-Guard, August 8, 2011.
• Kate Renner, "Cottage Grove "Stop Our Stench" Group Speaks Out," KEZI, August 8, 2011.
• Gia Vang, ""Stop Our Stench" Prepares for Cottage Grove Meeting," KEZI, August 8, 2011.
• Jeff Skrzypek, "Odor Continues from Dumping Situation," KEZI, August 1, 2011.
• Greg Bolt, "The Big Stink: Cottage Grove’s annual disposal of sewage sludge is putting something nasty in the air," The Register-Guard, July 28, 2011.