Quality Beef Slaughterhouse in Adams County


Background: MEA helped Concerned Citizens of Adams County stop a 36 million dollar 1,000 head per day beef slaughterhouse, 25,000 cattle in feedlots, an ethanol plant, and 45 acres of waste pits. The slaughterhouse, which was to be owned and operated by Quality Beef Processors, LLC, was likely to be located just south of the City of Adams at the intersection of State Highway 13 and CTH F. The City planed to annex the site, located in the Town of Adams, and change the zoning from agricultural to industrial.

Despite the fact that Adams County and City of Adams Officials had been aware of the Quality Beef Slaughterhouse proposal since 1999, those public officials neglected to inform the residents of Adams County or the City of Adams about it. MEA acquired information about the project from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and released it to the media and residents in Adams County in November of 2001.

The local community quickly formed a new grassroots organization, the Concerned Citizens of Adams County, in January of 2002 to stop the industrial-scale slaughterhouse. The group opposed to the slaughterhouse because they fear it will harm the environmental and economic sustainability of the local community. Possible problems with the slaughterhouse project included:

• water pollution from landspreading slaughterhouse waste in area with a high water table and porous soil;
• potential for air and water pollution from an increase in cattle feedlots in the area;
• more than 40 trucks per day hauling in cattle to the slaughterhouse, and then more trucks hauling out manure, hides, renderings, and other odor-causing materials;
• City of Adams’ gestures to subsidize the private business by providing domestic sewer and water service to the slaughterhouse, and even allow the City’s wastewater treatment plant to accept slaughterhouse waste when Quality Beef is unable to landspread it; and
• high injury and low-pay working conditions in slaughterhouses.

Concerned Citizens of Adams County first struggled with simply getting information from the City of Adams, the Adams County Rural and Industrial Development Commission (ACRIDC), and the Wisconsin Department Commerce. The City Council at first refused to grant the Concerned Citizens a public hearing on the slaughterhouse; the ACRIDC refused to release any documents related to its discussions with Quality Beef; and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce argued that any documents it had on the slaughterhouse were exempt from disclosure by Wisconsin’s Open Records Law. It appeared as though our public agencies had something to hide.

MEA helped Concerned Citizens achieve three major victories in their efforts to stop the slaughterhouse.

• MEA helped the Concerned Citizens pressure the City Council to hold a public hearing and release documents showing the City had been working to attract the slaughterhouse since 1999;
• MEA settled a successful Open Records Act lawsuit against the ACRIDC, a public agency created by an Adams County ordinance, and compelled them to release records showing that it has been helping the slaughterhouse locate in Adams since 1999, even offering to negotiation land purchases on its behalf;
• MEA settled another successful Open Records Act lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Commerce and compelled them to release its records relating to potential state funding for the slaughterhouse.

Status: MEA is currently helping Concerned Citizens wage a popular campaign to stop the slaughterhouse from being located in Adams County. This will help the Concerned Citizens avoid costly litigation to stop the slaughterhouse in the future.

Meanwhile, to learn more about the Slaughterhouse and how you can help, email Ross and Angie Newberg at concerned53910@yahoo.com, or visit www.saveadamscounty.net.