Count added to pollution lawsuit against Fruitland meat processor

A lawsuit accusing a Fruitland meat processor of illegal water pollution will be allowed to continue, and a count for natural resources damage will be added, a judge decided Monday.

Attorneys for Fruitland American Meat and Attorney General Chris Koster's office appeared before Judge Benjamin Lewis for a case review Monday at the Common Pleas Courthouse. The company's president said last week its attorneys were working with Koster's office to see whether the suit could be settled, but Lewis chose to let the state add a count to the original petition and scheduled a trial setting for Nov. 2.

The lawsuit, filed by Koster's office in April, claims the company violated Missouri's Clean Water Law by sending slaughterhouse waste into a tributary leading to Cane Creek. The creek flows southwest across Cape Girardeau County, west of Jackson and under Highway 34 before becoming Byrd Creek, which empties into Upper Whitewater Creek a few miles south of the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site.

Water pollution, illegal discharge, failure to report breaches, failure to submit discharge monitoring reports and failure to submit sample discharge are among the claims in the suit, which also asks the court to award up to $10,000 in fines for each day the alleged violations occurred. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources operating permit issued to the company in 2010 requires monthly monitoring reports to include special samplings for any discharges.

The release of waste from the company, which Koster's office has said was believed to be the result of a faulty wastewater treatment facility on a few occasions and intentional dumping on another, caused "dark brown or red, foamy stream water with an offensive odor" more than two miles downstream from the company and water pollution that killed more than 900 fish, according to court documents.

The incidents of pollution happened from January 2014 to March 2015, court documents state.

The company's facility is on Route FF in Fruitland and processes about 200 head of cattle each week, along with pork, lamb, goat, bison, elk and other meats.

The company's management has denied sending waste into waterways purposely and said two accidents -- one late last year and another early this year -- led to discharges of waste. The attorney for Fruitland American Meat also denied the allegations in court filings, including the company failed to operate a "no discharge" lagoon and soil absorption beds properly.

The amount the state seeks for natural resources damages and past and future costs of restoration was not available Monday.

eragan@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632

Pertinent address:

44 N. Lorimier St., Cape Girardeau, MO

3006 Route FF, Jackson, MO