U.S. Water News Online
DES MOINES, Iowa -- A Postville company has dropped its lawsuit against the Department of Natural Resources after the DNR issued two permits for wastewater treatment plant improvements for the city.
Agriprocessors, Inc. filed the lawsuit in Polk County District Court in February. That was dropped recently after the DNR issued the city a permit allowing construction of the plant and issued Agriprocessors a permit allowing discharge of wastewater after it has been treated by the plant.
``We're pleased the Iowa DNR finally issued the permits so our business can continue uninterrupted,'' said Sholom Rubashkin, vice president of Agriprocessors. ``These permits allow our business to move forward, while still protecting the environment with these significant wastewater quality improvements.''
The company had said in its suit that state law provides for automatic approval of permits if DNR fails to approve or deny a permit application for six months. The lawsuit last February said the permit had been requested more than a year before.
It says that inaction left ``the city, Agriprocessors, Inc., a major employer, and families of nearly 600 employees facing catastrophic economic consequences.''
Despite the completion of two new 22 million gallon storage lagoons for the city's proposed mechanical wastewater treatment plant on a 22-acre site created specifically for this purpose, the city and the meat processing company were unable to build the plant.
The new storage lagoons were built at the encouragement of the Iowa DNR at a cost of approximately $1.3 million, Agriprocessors officials said. The storage lagoons were completed last year to provide additional interim capacity for the old, existing lagoon treatment system, if needed, until Dec. 31, 2003, the deadline for completing the mechanical plant.
The company said sodium chloride, or salt, is necessary to process kosher meat products. The DNR has determined the chloride limit for treated wastewater from the mechanical plant is approximately 30 percent lower than the current chloride limit into the existing lagoon system.
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