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2 environmental groups tell meatpacker it will be sued

By MARIE ROHDE
mrohde@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Aug. 16, 2004

Local environmentalists have notified Emmpak Foods Inc. that they intend to sue the company for alleged repeated violations of limitations on the amount of oil and grease it can dump into local sewers.

The Sierra Club and Midwest Environmental Advocates notified Emmpak on Monday of their intention to sue under the federal Clean Water Act. It allows citizens to sue if local officials have failed to enforce the federal law. They must provide 60 days notice before filing.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District began monitoring effluent from the Emmpak plant in the Menomonee Valley more than five years ago after discovering a mass of livestock bones, nose rings and stomach magnets immediately downstream of the Emmpak facility.

Stomach magnets, about the size of an index finger, are fed to cattle in an effort to prevent nails and other metal items from passing beyond the first stomach and lessen the damage done to the animals.

Representatives of Emmpak did not return several calls requesting comment.

Pete Topczewski, manager of the industrial waste program for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, said meat packing firms are not among those the district is required to monitor but that it may do so if problems are detected.

After the obstructions were discovered in sewer lines, the district began monitoring the Emmpak's effluent on a weekly basis. None of the samples taken since May 22, 2000, have met the district's standard of no more than 300 milligrams per liter of grease. One sample contained 6,400 milligrams per liter.

Topczewski said Emmpak has installed screens that capture the solids that had been getting into the sewer and have more recently hired a firm to design a system that will remove the oil and grease. The new system will cost about $2 million and take about 18 months to complete, Topczewski said. The fat can be recycled as a fuel or used in feed for hogs, he said.

Emmpak also has agreed to have the local sewer inspected and cleaned on a quarterly basis, Topczewski said.

Although it's not likely Emmpak will meet the district's standard before the grease removal system is installed, Topczewski said the district is not going to attempt to shut the company down. "They can only go as fast as they can go," he said.

Jodi Habush Sinykin, a lawyer with Midwest Environmental Advocates, disagreed.

"We're not asking them to reinvent the wheel here," Sinykin said. "They should have done all of this years ago."

Sinykin noted that Emmpak was purchased by Excel Corp., the nation's third-largest meatpacking business, in 2001 and that Excel operates 16 slaughterhouses and meat processing plants in 16 states. Excel is a subsidiary of Cargill Food Solutions Inc.

"Surely they have faced the problems of disposing of byproducts before now," she said.

Earlier this year, the environmental groups brought a similar lawsuit against an industrial laundry, the Cintas Corp., for releasing large amounts of oil and grease into the sewer system. Cintas installed a corrective system and provided $47,000 that was used to purchase land for the Beerline B Bicycle Trail and for the purchase of water testing equipment, a boat and a digital camera that will be used to monitor water quality in Milwaukee's waterways.