LOGANTON – A large family-owned meat processing business in Clinton County says it has been forced to shut down temporarily because it can no longer apply food processing residuals (FPR) on snow-covered fields.
The state Department of Environmental Protection on Feb. 9 ordered the applications to stop but did not tell Nicholas Meat in Greene Twp. outside Loganton it had to cease production, spokesperson Megan Lehman said Wednesday.
The Environmental Hearing Board Friday denied Nicholas’ latest appeal of the order, leaving the company no alternative but to shut down, said Brian Miller, director of sustainability.
The company has 3.5 million gallons of storage capacity but, according to DEP, generates 150,000 gallons of waste daily.
Other options have been explored including hauling the residuals miles away to a treatment facility, but Miller said they are not viable in the short term.
Talks are continuing with DEP and he expressed hope the issue can be resolved so the closure is temporary.
The approximately 350 employees continue to be paid for now, he said.
The closing, which took effect at the end of the workday Tuesday, also impacts 150 contract workers and hundreds of farmers and cattle buyers, he said.
The closing, which took effect at the end of the workday Tuesday, also impacts 150 contract workers and hundreds of farmers and cattle buyers.
Nicholas Meat processes approximately 600 cattle a day compared with 150 to 200 in 2013, and there is no place in the region that can handle that number, Miller said.
“That growth, coupled with an unusually long-standing snowpack and no backup plan, is the genesis of this issue,” Lehman said.
Nicholas Meat maintains it has safely applied the nutrient-rich and organic residuals to farmland year-round, including when snow is present on fields, in accordance with the relevant regulations for more than a decade.
But, DEP pointed out last October it imposed a civil penalty of $6,500 on an area farmer because FPR from Nicholas that was spread on his land got into an unnamed tributary of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
The application of residuals on snow-covered ground has never been permissible and Lehman suggested field and weather conditions might have been different at the times that Nicholas claims applications have occurred, of which DEP was aware.
The plant closure will disrupt food retailers and affect Pennsylvania consumers’ access to a local and consistent beef supply, including grass-fed, natural (antibiotic and hormone-free) and organic beef products, a company news release claims.
“Hundreds of farmers and cattle buyers across Pennsylvania and the surrounding states count on Nicholas Meat to harvest their cattle,” it says.
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Robin C. Brandt, who helped develop the Food Processing Residual Management Manual for DEP, claimed at a news briefing hosted by Nicholas that the application equipment used today cuts through the snow.
Brandt, who is technical director of Material Mattes Inc. of Elizabethtown, urged DEP to revoke its compliance order claiming today’s technology was not available when the manual was written.
DEP’s action, which followed numerous complaints, is driven by the increased potential for runoff during the melting process and to uncertain field conditions under the snow, Lehman said.
Miller disputed DEP’s claim that it had not expanded storage for the waste in the past eight years while increasing the number of cattle being processed.
It added 2.5 million gallons in storage space several years ago, he said.
It plans to construct a sustainable resource facility that will enable 90 percent of the water to be reused in the plant and convert solids into organic, nutrient-rich fertilizer, he said.
Those who are complaining about the FPR applications are in the minority, contends Justin Snook, a dairy farmer who lives in the area and is president of the Clinton County Farm Bureau.
DEP has not required Nicholas to do anything with the FPR already applied to snow-covered ground, Lehman said.
“This case remains open and DEP will continue to monitor the situation and could require further action if warranted,” she said.
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