Concerned citizens reached out to Shorekeeper early this year to inquiry about a consent order between the Department of Environmental Quality and the poultry company, Tyson for violations at their Temperanceville plant in Accomack County.
Shorekeeper contacted the state but the information provided raised more questions than answers and so Shorekeeper filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the detailed reports of the violations as well as Tysons plan to remedy the issues.
The documents made clear that the proposed penalty of $16,000 was woefully inadequate as the violations were made knowingly and the state had failed to fine them for all violations. Additionally, the plan to remedy the issues was clearly insufficient to protect our waters from future pollution.
Shorekeeper wrote to the Department of Environmental Quality detailing our concerns with both the penalty and action plan proposed. We also made clear that a fine of $16,000 did not meet the intent of the Clean Water Act to serve as a deterrent. Shorekeeper also highlighted the fact that this facility has a long history of violating its permit and dumping excess pollutants into our waterways as evidenced by previous consent orders. Clearly the penalties are not having the intended action of forcing Tyson to clean up its act on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
In addition to our call for more stringent penalties and a more robust action plan we requested that this matter go before the State Water Control Board for a public hearing. Without our FOIA the matter would have been settled without even accounting for the violations properly and with zero opportunity for meaningful public input. By elevating this to the State Water Control Board we hope to not only hold Tyson accountable for their pollution but also to shine a light on the shortcomings in Virginia’s environmental regulatory shortcomings.
(DEQ) Notified Shorekeeper that after reviewing our comments they decided to reassess the fine at $26,000 and agreed with us that Tyson was highly culpable for their actions. DEQ raised Tysons official culpability from “serious” to “high” considering the facts the violations were foreseeable, and precautions to prevent the violations were not taken. They also required Tyson to rewrite their compliance action plan.
They also notified us that our request for this to be heard before the State Water Control Board will also be granted and the order will be heard at the July 19th meeting. Virginia Eastern Shorekeeper will be traveling to Richmond to speak to the order as well as the rapid increase in the poultry sector in Accomack County. Shorekeeper is organizing carpools for eastern shore residents that would like to join us in voicing their concerns to the Water Control Board members.
About the Author
An astronomically high cancer rate; the 2nd highest in Virginia is attributable to industry. As agricultural has had a presence in Delmarva far longer than the earliest poultry producer, it’s logical, the effects of chicken waste, is “coming home to roost.”
Anyone in Accomac who believes selling their sole to the devil in the form of quick, easy money for erecting, downright environmentally hazardous poultry houses, is doing Northampton and Accomac Counties, a grave disservice.
It’s about time you started talking Charles, but not only about the chicken factory, but what about the dump over the hump, how about sewage discharges to “our part” of the beach, the dry cleaners and town laundry mat. Oh yeah, I just can’t leave out the fields, factories, graders, and the PRR trains, just to name a few. All Hazmat issues. You know how to contact me, blood.
Shorekeeper should be asking for a moratorium on the permitting of new industrial poultry houses in Accomack County, seeing word is that if the ones that are in the pipeline are built, Accomack County could be at the top of the list of industrial poultry houses per square mile in the nation. They should also release a statement that they oppose poultry litter incinerators, as this method of manure disposal affects issue far more serious than surface and ground water quality. Silence is deafening.
Yes, a moratorium on additional poultry house permits /construction, and processing plant expansions, until DEQ updates regulations for air emissions (regarding particulates, ammonia, etc.) ,and, surface and ground waters relevant to protection, remediation, and enforcement , in all aspects of this industry ( industrial growing operations, processing plants, manure and litter storage, handling, and “disposal”, etc.)
It is also important that environmental groups like Shorekeeper and advocates for public health, demand that Accomack enact protective zoning (1000 ft setbacks from residences, 2000 ft from surface waters etc) and require retrofitting of ammonia scrubbers on future and existing poultry operations.
This is an election year, time to ask local and state candidates the hard questions concerning their stances on environmental and public health issues relating to CAFOs.
If Northampton County Voters have any doubts regarding the necessity of our current zoning protecting our residents’ health, safety, and welfare, take a drive though Accomack County, if you can tolerate the smell and view.
By the way, another article posted in the most recent edition of the Cape Charles Mirror, addresses the most recent DEQ findings on surface and ground waters. According to the DEQ and the Virginia Dept of Health, the entire trunk of the Chesapeake Bay is under a fish consumption advisory for PCBs, for “striped bass”.
Please note, that these dangerous chemical by products are released into the atmosphere, and then deposited on the ground and surface waters, when poultry litter is incinerated. Why would we not want to stop any further degradation of the Bay and its tributaries?
Not trying to be an alarmist here, but I just want to know the simple truth. Why is the cancer rate per population so high in both Accomack and Northampton County? Have there been any studies to correlate the numbers to the various types of inorganic materials found in both the soil and drinking water? If so, can Shorekeepers hunt these down and publish the data? Lastly, how can so many allow so few to get away with damaging the ecology, the land surrounding the townships and the unique family cohesiveness while giving so little back to the communities; all the time amassing high profits? Is this truly the fate of the average Eastern Shore resident? Will you continue to sit back and slowly watch your pristine and ecologically sound areas degrade because of fatalistic industrial practices done solely for the benefit of high profit market practices. There has got to be a better way! And it starts with holding both state legislature and industry company boards responsible for the pollution and consequential health risks attributed to poor management practices. Not after the fact, but before! Sixteen thousand dollars raised to twenty-six thousand dollars is an affront to the damages caused by their negligence. The threat of shutting down or paying millions (of which should be funneled back into the injured communities as clean up and health benefits – not to some slush fund set up in Richmond!) should be a good start to bring about much needed change of these outmoded industrial practices. Just because it’s farming/chickens, doesn’t mean it’s healthy, clean and good for the community. Farming and industrial practices (the way I see it) are still being done the same ways it was done in the middle of the twentieth century. Meaning, the technology is there for cleaner, more efficient and safer industries. Farming, as well, could take a page from the Japanese, who have been practicing crop rotation and organic farming for centuries, very much unlike the Monsanto based chemical farming practiced on the Eastern Shore. Follow the money, locate the sources of your health based issues and you will find your culprits. Do nothing and watch the cancer rates increase, the fish die off, the bay and creeks grow more oxygen deprived and your children’s health issues increase. But like I say, I’m not trying to be an alarmist here. But, you who live there…should be.