Hebron, Md- There will be a public hearing and a vote on a moratorium on storage tanks, like the one off Porter Mill and Riggin road in Hebron. The tank stores poultry waste product. Neighbors near this tank say a moratorium on tanks like these could prevent neighbors from living through the conditions they have been through.
“The flies are terrible, I just worry about what it’s doing to our health. I live 400 yards, a straight line from it. I am the second closest person to it. And it’s just crazy that the county put it in here,” said Kenny Robinson, who lives near the tank. “I grew up around chicken manure… but this isn’t chicken manure smell. This is, if you’ve ever had a septic tank overflow in your yard, smell. Worse than the septic tank.”
Robinson says on hot summer days, everyday is a toss up.
“Whichever way the wind is blowing, you better hope that you are not in that direction because it is just horrible. It’s awful. It gets in your house, it gets in here you can’t get rid of it for days. If you’re lucky enough that the wind is going the other way, you’re alright. But whoever is stuck with the wind for a few days… you’re in trouble,” said Robinson.
Neighbor Jeffery Bear agrees.
“The combination of the smell and the traffic. There’s as many as 30 tractor trailers a day coming in and out of us. Kids, buses, neighborhoods, it's not a good situation,” said Bear. “You can’t sit outside. Certain times the wind is in certain directions you cant even go outside. You have to hold your breath going out to your vehicle ”
Edmond Burns owns the tank and says he did not realize what an uproar the tank would bring.
"All I did was apply for a permit that's the stuff that I put in is controlled by MDA. I didn't try to inconvenience my neighbors, but it seems like some of them had, you know, have a bad disposition about it," said Burns.
Members of the Wicomico County Council tell WBOC the reason it may extend the moratorium is because they are still exploring the legality of where these tanks should go.
