Environmental complaint received 2023-07-05 11:00:00
Source: Van's Cabinet Shop
Source location: 4915 US HWY 41 S
Lake Park, Georgia 31636
Complaint location: Van's Cabinet Shop 
4915 US HWY 41 S
Lake Park, GA 31636

Follow up to above referenced complaint: CTS 102802
It is now several months since this initial complaint and as I suspected, the business is now once again exhausting fumes that have a very strong odor and are causing me to be nauseous in my own yard and home.  I would ask that you send a different investigator who will actually perform a thorough investigation on these toxic fumes. 
 

The following is a draft of an email that I composed, but never sent with the hopeful expectation this matter was resolved. Clearly, it is not:

    I would invite each of you to review the complaint, and the subsequent report/investigation of my complaint. It was my hope that you would find no toxic chemicals and put at ease my mind and concerns over what I and my neighbors are inhaling. 
After reviewing the report online, I spoke with Mr. Mark Peake this morning in regards to his investigation and report. Unfortunately, this did very little to ease my concerns. 

As stated in the report and confirmed in our conversation this morning, he did no actual monitoring or testing of the emissions from the building. The fan was not running. Fumes were not being exhausted. He did not specify, approve or audit the source of the emissions.
 He did not physically inspect the chemicals being used. He conducted a cursory tour of the property and subsequently allowed the owners to self report on the amounts and types of chemicals being used. 
In addition, he allowed them to self report on the data sheets and provide them to him in a delayed response a week or two later.
 In my opinion, this was little more than a telephone interview could have accomplished, not a thorough investigation.

And as of today, miraculously, the fan is once again running, and exhausting fumes, which have absolutely no odor at all.  Imagine that!
I am certainly pleased to report that I am not inhaling nauseous fumes. However, I do not consider this matter closed, and I am highly concerned that it will continue once the owners believe they are no longer being monitored. 
In addition, Mr. Peake found it necessary to reprimand me when I inquired as to a valid permit for this business. He stated the owners are not required to have a permit for any air quality emissions and the business was allowed there long before this residential neighborhood was built. I would invite him or you to verify those comments. My home was built in the 1930s. This neighborhood was platted and developed before that time and I know for a fact that business has not been operational for 90 years. 


I submitted a simple request to my government agency after speaking with the owner multiple times over the course of 5 years about the condition of the property, and he refused with a sly grin to participate in any type of voluntary cleanup.
 I have even suggested that a baffle be placed on the building to direct those fumes up rather than directly into my residence.
 I’m not asking for his livelihood to be affected. I’m asking for a simple, commonsense remedy so that we can all live without toxic air in our homes.