By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
A letter was sent by Jared Eldridge, Juab County
Attorney, to the John Kuhni & Sons (JKS) rendering plant
located near the Mills Junction in Juab County giving notice
of a violation of the conditional use permit.
That letter was in reference to the offensive odors
being emitted by the plant.
Now a second letter will be written, not warning of
the odor, but warning the company that, once again, they are
out of compliance with the conditional use permit authorized
by the Juab Planning and Zoning Commission.
"Trenches have been dug on their property and waste
material consisting of blood and animal parts have been
dumped in those trenches," said Eldridge.
The Sheriff's Department took several photos of the
problem and commissioners were given computer print-outs of
the photos so they could see the violations were real.
"To me this is a concern," said Eldridge.
The trenches, he said, were 16-feet deep and were
quite long. The state was contacted and on Jan. 31, the
state division of water quality visited the site and
collected samples.
The dumping was offensive, to say the least, said
Eldridge, and was taking place in a non-approved way, and
was a concern for the public health, safety and welfare.
In these days of mad cow disease, the rendering
facility needed to be extra-careful of the way waste was
disposed of and the manner in which it was done, said
Eldridge.
Another concern was that a well was located within
100-feet of the trenches which was used to water cattle in
the Mills area, said Eldridge.
In a high water year, the waste in the trenches could
get into the ground water supply. The water table would be
high enough to allow the transmittal.
"The waste-water treatment to be used by the rendering
facility was approved by the Utah State Health Department
and the State of Utah Division of Water Quality," he said.
"If the violation continues, the commission can consider
revoking the business license of JKS."
Part of the conditional use permit states that the
violator needs to be notified by mail and given a reasonable
amount of time to correct the violation before action is
taken.
Commissioners agreed that another letter needed to be
sent by Eldridge to the rendering plant giving them notice
of non-compliance with the county conditional use
permit.
"We need to send a letter to them warning of the
violation and stating that the non-compliance had better
stop or we will take action," said Eldridge.
Commissioners agreed and directed Eldridge to write
and send the letter.
The company was given until Jan. 27 to correct the
odor violation, said Eldridge, and sheriff's deputies sent
to the plant location on that date confirmed that the
company, on that date, was in compliance.
Commissioner Robert Steele said he had gone to the
area on Wednesday. "I stopped at three different areas and
there really was not any odor."
To be in compliance, said Eldridge, the plant must not
have any odor beyond the property line of the plant.
Following the commission's direction to Eldridge to
notify the rendering facility of the latest violation, six
residents of Levan came to meeting to voice concerns about
Kuhni's.
One of those in attendance, Sandy Brooks, wondered
about the engineering consultant the plant was to have hired
to make reports on the odor-control for the facility. She
had thought the reports were to be on-going.
Glenn Greenhalgh, county economic development
director, was asked to come to meeting to explain what had
been expected of that consultant.
"An odor control consultant was hired to design the
system," said Greenhalgh. "That consultant did give us a
copy."
As far as odor is concerned, the problem may have been
corrected.
On Friday, Jan. 14, Greenhalgh contacted Kevin Kuhni
at JKS in order to check on reports of unreasonably
offensive odors and Kuhni told Greenhalgh that the odor
control system was not operating properly due to some start
up problems.
The problems were to be corrected within a week and
that appears to have been done.
However, the plant was to give notice to the Juab
County Zoning Administrator, which is Greenhalgh, within two
hours of a breakdown in the odor control system and that did
not happen.
While he had visited the plant and had gone downwind
of the facility, said Steele, he had no idea of the dumping
problem.
"We had no clue," he said. "All the material at the
plant in Boston that we visited went into the system."
There was no waste to dump because it was all
used.
"There are proper ways to dispose of waste," said
Greenhalgh. "I know the packing plant utilizes proper
methods. There are ways to handle animal waste that would be
in compliance."
However, dumping in the open trenches was not one of
them.
"They made us promises," said Steele. "I sent the
sheriff's office out to check on them after I received a
complaint."
There are always problems in start-up, he said, but
the trenches being used to dump waste were a health hazard
and needed correcting.
"Right now, we are at the beginning of our
relationship with Kuhni's," said Neil Cook, commission
chairman. "Now is the time to make certain they comply with
the conditional use permit."
"The previous commission went to a rendering facility
in Boston and walked around the facility," said Cook. "We
know it can be done (odor control) and we will make it
happen."
|
