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$2M penalty for pumping animal waste into river
[August 21, 2009] WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tyson Fresh Meats, the world's largest beef and pork supplier, will pay $2 million for pumping animal waste into the Missouri River, the Justice Department said Thursday.
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Justice said the company, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, Ark., violated a 2002 agreement with the government to limit its discharges into the river from a beef processing facility in Dakota City, Neb. The government said the company did not adequately treat the wastewater it discharges into the river, and as a result, fecal coliform and nitrates were discharged. Officials said the discharges caused high levels of toxicity to aquatic life in the river. Regulators said Tyson discharges an average of 5 million gallons of treated wastewater from the facility into the river each day. In a statement late Thursday, Tyson Foods said the wastewater issues at the plant had been resolved and the water treatment system there was operating effectively. "After we became aware in 2003 that some treatment plant processes were not performing as intended, operational changes were made and additional equipment and systems added, enabling the treatment system to function consistently," Tyson said. |
