JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House gave first-round approval Monday to a plan aimed at stopping companies from storing and spreading meatpacking waste on rural Missouri farmland.
Under legislation that has support from rural and urban lawmakers, companies that want to build storage lagoons for animal byproducts would be required to test the waste monthly for heavy metals and pathogens and to make sure those materials are not being spread on cropland.
The proposal — which exempts large animal feeding operations because they are regulated under a different set of rules — also would require groundwater-monitoring wells to make sure the material isn’t seeping into creeks, rivers and lakes.
Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, who is sponsoring the proposal, said companies have exploited a loophole that affects the environment and the agriculture industry.
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“It should be regulated and the application of the sludge should be reasonable,†Lewis said.
Rep. Dirk Deaton, R-Noel, who is co-sponsoring the measure, said the issue has been percolating in his district for at least six years.
“I was getting a lot of complaints, concerns and questions about this,†Deaton said. “And year after year after year, it just gets worse.â€
Rural residents in southwest and central Missouri have expressed outrage at companies for the smell of the dead animal parts and the unknown environmental hazards of allowing the material to seep into groundwater, creeks and rivers.
Counties affected by the work of Arkansas-based Denali Water Solutions include McDonald and Newton near the Arkansas border and Randolph, located north of Columbia.
The frustrations focus largely on Denali’s practice of storing and spreading waste material it collects from chicken, beef, pork and turkey processors. Before the Missouri Department of Natural Resources stepped in late last year, the firm would fill tanker trucks with the sludge and offer it to farmers as a free fertilizer. The material is stored in open lagoons until field conditions are right for the application.
Under a DNR order, the company is now emptying the massive storage pits and transferring it to wastewater treatment facilities.
As part of a compromise with regulators, Denali has agreed to pay $21,000 in fines.
Just under $13,000 of that money will go to McDonald County schools. A little more than $4,300 will go to both Newton and Macon County schools.
The legislation is seen as a balancing act between environmental concerns and a push by Gov. Mike Parson, a cattle rancher who is backing efforts to boost Missouri’s role in the meat processing industry.
Deaton said some farmers in his district have stopped using the free fertilizer because of environmental concerns. But, he added, the legislation won’t stop those who still want it, as long as the companies adhere to the proposed changes.
“This is something that’s definitely important for the whole state,†said Rep. Bridget Walsh Moore, a south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Democrat.
The measure needs one more vote in the House before moving to the Senate for further debate.
The legislation is and .