Watchful Eyes On Brownfield Mitigation For Allen Harim's Millsboro Chicken Plant Site

More on the proposed chicken plant for Millsboro since my July 21st story ~ 

Millsboro Resident Reveals Less Than Truthful State Information-Sharing On New Allen Harim Poultry Processing Plant

August 2nd, (Cape Gazette) Rachel Swick reported ~ Residents urged to oppose chicken plant

Contamination of site under review 

Haynes said the water quality and soil quality are already so poor at the site, that a new chicken plant would only increase the potential for chemicals to affect residents. Allen Harim contracted with BP Environmental of Easton, Md., to do preliminary soil and water studies. The findings were sent to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in  April. The results found levels exceeding U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for chloride, chromium, nitrates, volatile organic compounds and several cancer-causing chemicals. “None of these are good,” Haynes said after reading the report to the Millsboro group. 

It is because of these chemicals that state officials have labeled the property as a Brownfield site July 11. The Brownfield designation allows a prospective purchaser to buy the property without assuming responsibility for past chemical releases that could have occurred, said DNREC Site Investigation and Restoration Section administrator Tim Ratsep. There is no public comment period associated with the decision to designate a side a Brownfield, Ratsep said. As purchase of the property moves forward, Allen Harim and state officials will determine if contamination exists. Once the development plan is completed, additional soil and water sampling will be done. The final report is expected in a few months. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the final Brownfield development plan once it is completed, Ratsep said. “We will write up a report on what needs to be done out there,” Ratsep said. “That plan goes to public notice for 20 days to allow for public comment. If requested, there can be a public hearing.” 

But, Millsboro residents want to know what's in their water now, so Payan said she plans to work with a national water testing company to test residential wells near the proposed chicken plant. The testing she is calling for will look at a broad range of chemicals, including chromium, and can cost up to $1,000. She said she hopes to find a company that will do the tests for free. Payan also filed several Freedom of Information Act requests with DNREC, Delaware Department of Agriculture and Delaware Department of Transportation to find out more about the site, but most of the requests are awaiting a legal review, she said. “This is your home,” Payan said. “No one wants to stop economic progress, but we have to be careful.”

And this on the 9th ~ Scientists: Chicken plant could harm public health

A group of Baltimore scientists says the Sussex County Board of Adjustment needs more information before deciding whether a proposed Millsboro chicken plant will affect public health.  

The Sussex board is expected to decide next month on a special-use permit request for Allen Harim, which plans to open a chicken processing facility. A permit is required because the plant, which could process 350,000 to 2 million chickens per week, is considered a potentially hazardous use. 

In a letter sent to board officials, scientists from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, housed in the Bloomberg School of Health, say increased poultry processing in Sussex County could spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment because antibiotics are used in chicken feed, which ends up in the poultry waste spread on agricultural fields throughout the region. “This is especially concerning because poultry producers in Sussex County already raise approximately 211 million broiler chickens per year, which is more than any other county on the Delmarva Peninsula,” states the letter. In addition to the spread of bacteria through poultry waste, trucks transporting the chickens will also release the bacteria, scientists said. In one study conducted on Route 13 near Salisbury and cited by the Johns Hopkins group, poultry trucks were found to spread harmful bacteria as they drove through communities. “Researchers consistently detected drug-resistant bacteria in the air and on surfaces inside vehicles while driving with their windows down behind poultry trucks,” states the letter. “This study exemplifies one facet of the increased burden that the community will face as a result of having hundreds of thousands of birds transported to the proposed processing plant each day.”

With a comment rescue ~

Adding jobs is a great thing; but at what cost? Most chicken processing jobs are not what we should be looking for. Just because someone promises jobs does not mean they have the community welfare in mind.

Saturday, the News Journal published this Salisbury Daily Times' report by Leigh Biangreco ~ Millsboro residents resist chicken plant - Possible environmental impacts cause concern

MILLSBORO — Millsboro residents aren’t opposed to the 700 jobs that a new chicken plant might create – just not in their backyard..........In 2005, a Dela­ware state water authority de­tected high concentrations of an industrial solvent there called trichloroethylene, or TCE. In 2009, the Environmen­tal Protection Agency added the site to its National Priorities Superfund list.

........The Delaware Department of Public Health designated the area a “cancer cluster” in 2007, with cancer rates 17 percent higher than the national aver­age.........Allen Harim and state offi­cials are working on remedia­tion plans for the site. Freeman added the water will be cleaner than when they found it after remediation.........“They left here and didn’t clean up,” said Ken Haynes, a member of Protecting Our In­dian River. “Now they want to use taxpayer money to clean up the land.” Haynes’ wife, Joanne, wor­ries that Harim’s promise of jobs is not worth the possible pollution. “It all sounds so good, Vlasic was supposed to be good,” she said. “But they got into trouble, and now we’re left holding the bag.” 
Some background ~

(USA Today July 2011) ~ Korean firm buys 92-year-old Delaware poultry producer

(Cape Gazette January 2013) ~ Gov. Markell, Ag Secretary Kee visit poultry facility in South Korea

(Delaware Business Daily) April 013 ~ Allen Harim plans to buy Vlasic plant in move that could add 700 jobs 

What, if anything, did Markell promise the South Koreans about developing a processing plant on the Millsboro superfund site? 

It is too bad that Delawareans resort to raw skepticism about the Governor but he's done nothing lately to make us believe he's in the least interested in upholding environmental protections for us vis a vis the possibility of new jobs on the horizon. 

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