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EPA RESOLVES CLEAN WATER ACT CASES AGAINST THREE POULTRY AND EGG COMPANIES

Release Date: 7/9/1999
Contact Information: Bonnie Smith (215) 814-5543

PHILADELPHIA -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has resolved water pollution cases in Pennsylvania and Virginia against two poultry processing plants and an egg products manufacturer.

There are three separate settlements: College Hill Poultry, Inc., owner of a Fredericksburg, Pa. poultry processing facility, will pay a $17,500 penalty and start a $103,000 pollution prevention project; Papetti’s Hygrade Egg Products Inc. of Klingerstown, Pa., will pay a $85,000 penalty; and Tyson Foods, Inc. will pay $16,000
for alleged violations at a poultry plant in Glen Allen, Va.

"We are pleased with the resolution of these cases, and will continue to work with industry officials on voluntary compliance efforts. Together with the states, though, we will continue to take appropriate legal actions against violators," said EPA Regional Administrator W. Michael McCabe.

EPA works with states to establish standards that safeguard the water quality of rivers, lakes, and streams. States issue permits limiting discharges into water. The cases settled alleged violations of the companies’ Clean Water Act permits outlined in administrative complaints filed September 30, 1998.

In their settlements with EPA, the companies neither admitted nor denied liability for the alleged violations. All three have certified that they are now in compliance with the Clean Water Act provisions cited in the complaints.

EPA cited College Hill Poultry, Inc., owner of a Fredericksburg, Pa. poultry processing facility, for violating permit discharge limits between October 1993 and May 1998. According to the complaint, the Lebanon County plant violated permit discharge limits of phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD - depleting the water’s oxygen), total suspended solids (TSS - cloudy water), fecal coliform, dissolved oxygen, and maximum flow. The plant discharges into Beach Run, a tributary in the Susquehanna River watershed.

In addition to the $17,500 penalty, College Hill will spend an $103,000 to install a sludge dewatering system at the Fredericksburg plant. This system will make it possible to reuse the 1100 tons of sludge annually produced in a new way. Instead of spreading the sludge as fertilizer on local farmlands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, it can now be turned into chicken feed.

Papetti’s Hygrade Egg Products, Inc. has agreed to pay a $85,000 penalty to settle allegations that the Quaker State Farms egg products plant in Klingerstown, Pa., violated its pollution discharge limits 1,380 times between February 1995 and March 1998. Papetti’s wastewater treatment plant, which discharges into Rock Creek, allegedly exceeded limits on TSS and BOD.

According to the EPA, most of Papetti's alleged violations occurred after the Klingerstown facility increased production, but failed to complete a wastewater treatment plant upgrades.

Tyson Foods, Inc. will pay a $16,000 penalty for alleged violations at its poultry processing plant in Glen Allen, Va., which discharges wastewater into the Chickahominy River. According to EPA, on at least 19 occasions between January 1994 and April 1998, the Tyson plant violated permit limits on discharges of total phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen, TSS, and BOD.

Excess levels of phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen can overstimulate algae growth and reduce crab and fish populations. TSS and BOD exceedences are also harmful to aquatic life and water quality.