Attorney General's News Release

September 21, 1999

Court approves team of experts to oversee $25 million project in waste treatment technology at PSF facilities

Kansas City, Mo. — The Jackson County Circuit Court today approved a three-member team of experts to oversee implementation of a $25 million investment in 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 Attorney General Jay Nixon as part of a resolution to Nixon's lawsuit against PSF alleging water pollution from manure spills and other violations of state and federal environmental laws at facilities in Putnam, Mercer and Sullivan counties.

Professors John Sweeten, Larry Jacobson and C.M. (Mike) Williams were selected jointly by Nixon and PSF to make up the team. The Department of Natural Resources also will have a non-voting administrative representative on the team.

Sweeten, director of agricultural engineering at Texas A&M University, also serves on the USDA Agricultural Air Quality Task Force and has received the Environmental Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Sweeten has published 48 articles on animal waste, its management and odor control during the last seven years.

Jacobson is a professor and extension engineer at the University of Minnesota. He has developed manure management practices for the Minnesota pork industry and has developed an odor rating system. Jacobson also served as a visiting scientist in Denmark working on a project involving air quality concerns inside and outside of swine facilities.

Williams, director of the North Carolina State University Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center, has advised both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on the management of agricultural waste. He has also earned several U.S. patents as a result of his waste management research.

"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."

PSF must provide the team a first-year work plan for its treatment technology within 90 days, and the team must approve all the 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 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 seek input from the community through semiannual public meetings, including one to be held within 60 days of the submission of PSF's 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.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818