Maryland Fines Dorchester County Plant $15,000 for Repeated Pollution Violations

DORCHESTER COUNTY, Md.— The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has fined Darling Ingredients, owner of the Valley Proteins animal waste rendering plant in Dorchester County, $15,000 for repeated violations that could pollute nearby waterways.

The plant processes poultry byproducts, including dead birds, feathers, bone, meat, fat, blood, and other poultry parts. The fines are linked to 51 recent violations of a requirement to maintain at least two feet of empty capacity, known as freeboard, in wastewater lagoons to prevent overflows and spills during heavy rains or other conditions that could cause pollution to be washed into rivers and streams.

MDE inspections revealed violations occurring between August 2023 and March 2024, as detailed in a May 24 enforcement letter sent to the company. Recent MDE inspections have also found dozens of other pollution violations not listed in the letter. Darling Ingredients has fourteen days to respond to MDE’s letter.

The plant has been under a consent decree since October 2022 with MDE, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), ShoreRivers, and Dorchester Citizens for Planned Growth due to violations in previous years. The agreement ordered the facility’s owners to pay $540,000 in civil penalties to the state of Maryland for more than 40 violations of a state-issued discharge permit.

MDE’s recent action is for new violations observed since the consent decree went into effect. The decree, approved by Dorchester County Circuit Court, authorizes MDE to order financial penalties for failures to comply with the agreement’s terms.

In a separate matter, in February 2023, CBF, Dorchester Citizens for Planned Growth (DCPG), Friends of the Nanticoke River, ShoreRivers, and Wicomico Environmental Trust challenged the renewed wastewater discharge permit issued by MDE for the facility. The suit, filed in Dorchester County Circuit Court, states that the permit is not sufficiently stringent to protect water quality in the downstream Transquaking River, Higgins Mill Pond, and Chesapeake Bay.

CBF Maryland Advocacy Director Alan Girard stated, “Time and again, the Darling Ingredients plant has committed violations that could cause harm to Eastern Shore waterways. We’re grateful that the Maryland Department of the Environment is stepping up to levy fines and enforce the terms of the consent decree. The Bay’s health depends on consistent and timely enforcement of laws and regulations designed to protect our environment.”