A Schuylkill County facility that processes treated human waste that engulfs the surrounding community in putrid odors is asking the state to allow it to keep operating.

But after listening to residents describe how the stench restricts their lives, county commissioners said they are putting their opposition to the facility in writing to the Department of Environmental Protection.

“We are putting in that we are opposed to the extension,” said Commissioners Chairman Larry L. Padora Jr.

“They need to control the odors,” he said.

Natural Soil Products, in Tremont, Frailey Township, processes sewage sludge to be used as fertilizer. The company described itself on the application as a “municipal biosolids composting facility.”

The application states the company’s project is to dry and screen composted biosolids on four pads. It processes 45,561 dry tons of biosolids a year.

It also claimed to have addressed community concerns.

DEP has cited the company, owned by Tully Environmental Services of New York, multiple times over the years for violating air quality and solid waste standards.

No one knows that better than people who live nearby. For years they’ve begged commissioners to help them.

People can’t open their windows or sit outside because of the stench. They’ve called the DEP office in Pottsville, but by the time an agent arrives, the wind may have shifted to waft the odor in another direction, said Commissioner Barron L. Hetherington.

He said he’s sent 30 emailed messages to DEP about the stench. Hetherington said most of the sewage sludge comes from New York and New Jersey.

Padora said NSP’s current permit expires next April.

“They’re trying to make sure they can get this through,” he said.

On Wednesday, Tremont residents Lara Wiscount and her husband Joe spoke at a public commissioners’ meeting.

Lara Wiscount said she has exercise-induced asthma.

“In the morning, I do a sniff check, which shouldn’t even have to be a thing. I stick my head out the door. Does it smell like s—-? Can I go for a walk or a run?”

If the air doesn’t stink, she goes for a run.

But even then, she said she has the taste of feces in her mouth at the end of her run.

“I can’t tell you how disgusting this is,” she said.

Joe Wiscount said the smell permeates Tremont, Donaldson, Good Spring and Newtown.

“DEP’s own investigation found that odors from this facility caused sleeplessness and illness for people trying to live normal lives in their own homes,” he said.

In December, he said “DEP cited the company again, this time for storing nearly double the permitted volume of biosolids on site, and for using groundwater testing methods that didn’t need approved standards. These are consistent and persistent problems, not just isolated incidents,” he said.

According to DEP, people have until Aug. 12 to submit their opinions on whether the permit should be renewed.

Comments can be mailed to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Northeast Regional Office, Waste Management Program, 2 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre PA 18711-0790.

They can also be emailed to RA-EPWM-NERO@pa.gov.

Comments must include the writer’s full name and address, and how the smell has impacted their lives.