Cargill Ottumwa Plant Spills 20,000 Gallons of Toxic Factory Farm Waste Into Des Moines River
Process Waste Spill At Cargill Packing Plant in Ottumwa More Proof That SE Iowa Doesn’t Need Any More Factory Farms
Iowa CCI members near Unionsville and Blakesberg are fighting three proposed Parks Finishing Factory Farms Whose Hogs Will Be Slaughtered At Cargill’s Ottumwa Plant
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) members fighting three proposed factory farms near the Appanoose and Davis County line are saying that a process waste spill at a Cargill packing plant in Ottumwa is more proof that Southeast Iowa doesn’t need any more factory farms polluting Iowa waterways.
The Iowa DNR reported March 5 that the Cargill Meat Solutions Plant in Ottumwa dumped 20,000 gallons of process wastewater – blood, manure, and other waste products from the slaughter of hogs – into a storm sewer line that drains into the Des Moines River.The spill occurred on March 3. The Ottumwa, Iowa plant has capacity for processing 18,500 hogs a day. It was briefly shut down last month due to a break in a nearby water main.
“If Cargill can’t handle the amount of hogs they are slaughtering now without spilling waste and polluting our water, then they shouldn’t be allowed to build more factory farms that will only make the problem worse,” said Jim Ealy, a member from Unionville who has organized dozens of members of his rural neighborhood community to stand up and fight back against the proposed new factory farms.
Ealy and other members have protested twice at Cargill’s Ottumwa facility in the last 8 weeks, including at the on-site offices of Cargill subsidiary, Parks Finishing. The group has also held large-group meetings with the Davis County supervisors and the Iowa DNR. Community members have also met with local-area legislators at community forums in Ottumwa and at the state capitol in Des Moines.
On February 25, the Cargill facility in Eddyville spread thousands of gallons of Ag-lime by-product and waste water onto a snow-covered farm field, which will likely runoff when temperatures rise this week alongside potential rain, but DNR and Iowa Department of Ag and Land Stewardship officials say the application of process waste onto snow-covered fields was legal, even though Cargill’s Eddyville facility did not have a current, up-to-date certification to apply this waste product on farm ground.
In November of 2013, a Maschhoff Pork Sow Unit outside of Keosauqua also had a manure spill of several thousand gallons into a tributary of the Des Moines river downstream from the Cargill plant.
Maschhoff agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and make significant engineering changes to their facility in an attempt to avoid a citizen lawsuit under the federal Clean Water Act by Iowa CCI members and allies.
“There’s no question factory farms pose a huge threat to our air, water, and quality of life and there have been a number of impacts to the Des Moines river just the last few months that highlight just how dangerous this industry really is,” Ealy said.
“We want Cargill and Parks Finishing to cancel their plans to build more factory farms in Southeast Iowa and ask that the Iowa DNR issue the toughest fine or penalty possible to Cargill for dumping 20,000 gallons of toxic factory farm waste into the Des Moines river,” Ealy continued.
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