A Letter to the Community
Last week I had the opportunity to visit Springfield, Rincon, and Effingham County for the very first time. It’s a beautiful area, with wonderful people and a great sense of community.
As the relatively new president of dsm-firmenich North America I am ultimately responsible for the operations of all our facilities in the U.S., including those owned by DRT, one of our subsidiaries. I recently became aware of concerns about odors from our plant in Springfield and wanted to visit the community to see the facility, talk with our employees, and hear directly from some of those affected. I also learned during the visit that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation about our operations.
First, I want to emphasize, we hear you. Our DRT employees call Effingham County home. Their kids go to the same schools as yours. So, the safety and concerns of this community are vitally important.
That is why we have engaged a nationally known engineering firm to monitor and analyze odors in and around our facility and to determine whether the smells I have heard so much about originate from our processes. I can say unequivocally that if the odors are coming from DRT, we will own that problem and work aggressively to fix it. Our first step is to get accurate data and information on what may be causing the issue. We will work diligently in the months ahead with a dedicated team of local and national DRT employees and contract experts. We ask for your patience and understanding as we tackle this in a methodical, scientific way, and we plan to share relevant results with the public as they become available.
In the meantime, we have established a website for the facility where we will begin to share updated information as it becomes available at GetToKnowDRT.com. The site explains what we do, how our processes work and why any emissions from the facility are not toxic. You can also reach us with any concerns at drtspringfield@gmail.com. Below you will find some answers to commonly asked questions about our facility.
During my visit, I had the opportunity to spend time with most of our staff on site. I am grateful for this team of talented, dedicated employees, and we are collectively proud to call Effingham County home. Our goal is for Effingham County to be just as proud of DRT in the years ahead.
Thank you,
Hugh Welsh
dsm-firmenich North America President
