A three-member team of experts has been appointed by the Jackson County Circuit Court to oversee implementation of a $25 million investment in the waste treatment and technology to control odor and pollution on Premium Standard Farms facilities in Missouri.
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A three-member team of experts has been appointed by the Jackson County Circuit Court to oversee implementation of a $25 million investment in the waste treatment and technology to control odor and pollution on Premium Standard Farms facilities in Missouri.
The team was appointed as a condition of a settlement reached between PSF and the state of Missouri as part of a lawsuit against PSF, alleging water pollution from manure spills and other violations of environmental laws at facilities in Mercer, Sullivan and Putnam counties.
Professors John Sweeten, Larry Jacob and C.M. “Mike” Williams were selected by Attorney General Jay Nixon and PSF officials to make up the team. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources will also have a non-voting administrative representative on the team.
Under the agreement, PSF must provide the team a first-year work plan for its treatment technology within 90 days and the team must then approve all treatment technology used by the company. PSF must spend half the $25 million on waste treatment technology within three years and the remainder within five years. The company must also pay the state any portion of the $25 million not used within five years unless the team acknowledges the appropriate technology has been established for less than $25 million.
The team shall also seek input from the community through semi-annual public meetings, including one within 60 days of PSF’s submission of its first work plan. The company is also required to submit to the team an annual report, outlining the work for the past year and proposals for the upcoming year.
The three members of the team have extensive backgrounds in working with environmental issues. Sweeten is director of agricultural engineering at Texas A&M and also serves on the USDA Agricultural Air Quality Task Force. Jacobson is a professor and extension engineer at the University of Minnesota and has developed manure management practices for the Minnesota pork industry as well as an odor rating system. Williams serves as director of the North Carolina State University Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center and has advised both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on the management of agriculture waste.
“This team of nationally recognized experts will provide the oversight that is essential to ensure the money is spent in a manner that will solve the problems of odor and pollution in the surrounding communities,” Nixon said. “Installing next-generation technology designed to actually treat the waste is a giant step forward for this industry.”