A southwest Missouri river already contaminated with E. coli could soon receive up to 350,000 gallons of wastewater daily from a meatpacking facility.
And while the facility is expected to treat the wastewater for contamination before releasing it, critics of the proposal are worried about the operators’ history of violations at the site.
“It would be even worse than what they were currently doing — discharging it on land,” said Marisa Frazier, of the Missouri chapter of the environmental nonprofit Sierra Club.
The Pomme de Terre River, which winds through the Ozark region of southwest Missouri, provides clear, spring-fed water for canoeing, swimming and fishing. But in recent years, it has been on and off of a federal list of impaired waterways. A few months ago, the state environmental regulators once again proposed listing the Pomme de Terre as impaired by E. coli contamination.
But now, those same regulators are considering a request from Missouri Prime Beef Packers, which processes more than 3,500 cattle per week near Pleasant Hope, to treat wastewater from its operation using microorganisms and discharge it directly into the Pomme de Terre River. Right now, the facility applies the waste to its land as fertilizer.
The request is pending with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which has received more than 1,300 public comments, largely concerned about the potential harm to the river.
One opponent of the proposal — an attorney representing the Missouri Coalition for the Environment and the Sierra Club — said that, based on the facility’s history of violating environmental regulations and the uncertainty around its proprietary technology to treat the wastewater, state regulators should take a more critical look at the beef packing company’s application.
The groups also wrote requesting a public hearing, which the attorney, Ethan Thompson, said was a smaller goal.
“Obviously, them denying the new discharge, I think, would be best for the environment, but we’ll take whatever we can get here,” Thompson said.
Missouri Prime Beef Packers did not respond to requests for comment.
Following the company’s request, the department performed a “water quality and antidegradation review” to determine limits on the company’s pollution discharge to minimize harm to the Pomme de Terre.
It determined the company can sufficiently treat the wastewater with microbe technology called “iLeaf,” but if it doesn’t work, the review says, the state can require the company to switch to another treatment option.
But Thompson and his clients think the state’s review was inadequate. It doesn’t mention the river is recommended for the 303(d) list, a list of impaired waterways the state submits periodically to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has yet to sign off on the state’s latest list.
Once on the list, bodies of water are assigned a “total maximum daily load,” a limit on the amount of pollution that can enter the water.
This story was originally published on the Missouri Independent.
