A three-part series this week first looked at the AmeriTies West tie plant operations. Today’s second installment focuses on what the plant has done address to odor complaints concerning naphthalene. Tomorrow’s story recaps an investigative series by the Cascadia Times that says residents in The Dalles are breathing toxic air.

Pete Shepherd, interim director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, said one of the most important things he’s learned in his more than 23 years of public service is “the importance of listening to people speak from their heart in the place where they live.”

This is the conclusion of a three-part series exploring the controversy over odor and emissions at Amerities West: When Amerities South, located in Hope, Ark., had its grand opening in 2011, Warren Nelson, director of Amerities Holdings, told the Hope Star “This land is clean and will be kept clean.”

This is the first of three stories about controversy involving emissions and odors from Amerities West in The Dalles: Jeff Thompson, plant manager of Amerities West in The Dalles, said a mutual agreement order, signed last month to implement odor-reducing strategies, was done to “ease concerns.”

Nearly 30 people gathered for the rally demanding clean air in town. A public hearing to discuss the Mutual Agreement Order, signed by Amerities West on April 8 to implement odor-reducing strategies, will take place Tuesday, May 17, at 6 p.m. at Columbia Gorge Community College.