Pilgrim's egg farms still operating without permit

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

May 9, 2002 -- There's over 2 million hens at Strube Egg Farms, owned by Pilgrim's Pride, in Camp County. The hens generate a lot of eggs, and a lot of chicken litter.

As with any large Confined Animal Feeding Operation, the farm needs a permit that signals approval from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) on how the animal waste is handled.

Strube Egg Farms does not have a permit. They were ordered by TNRCC in 1999 to obtain a waste/wastewater permit on handling the litter after an environmental audit found insufficient means for handling such vast amounts. TNRCC told Pilgrim's to either obtain the permit, or cease operations at the egg farm.

Three extensions of time later, no wastewater permit for Strube Egg Farms has been completed. The last extension obtained by Pilgrim's for the egg farms expired Jan. 17.

On March 28, Pilgrim's requested another time extension. The TNRCC regional office in Tyler, in coordination with officials in the Austin headquarters, is expected to decide soon whether or not to grant the extension.

The issue seems black-and-white. No permit, no operation.

That's how adjacent landowners, and their attorney, view the matter.

"Now is the time for firm and deliberate action to enforce state law and the explicit order of the commission requiring that operation of the Strube Egg Farms cease operation because authorization has not been obtained," stated attorney Jim Mathews in an April 9 letter to TNRCC's executive director.

TNRCC's regional manager, Leroy Biggers, officed in Tyler, has the job of overseeing the decision.

"The reality is you can't just shut down a farm (of that size). You still have the matter of what to do with all the birds, and all the waste that is there now," Biggers said on April 24.

Pilgrim's has a wastewater permit application "in house," Biggers cited, but the handling of waste at the farm continues to bring concerns from adjacent landowners (most which have been handled in court), and amendments to the application, have delayed the process.

One amendment that will need to be made concerns the method of which the waste/wastewater generated at the farms is currently being handled.

In September 2001, an agreement was made between Pilgrim's and adjacent property owners concerning a system to handle the wastewater. The system was a state-of-the-art subsurface drip irrigation method. It seemed to be working well, so in February 2002, Pilgrim's filed an amendment to their application permit proposing the system.

But, sometime after Feb. 21, the subsurface drip irrigation method was rendered unusable when the subsurface irrigation lines were cut by someone plowing the field.

On April 24, Cliff Butler, Pilgrim's CEO, said he couldn't comment "on what wastewater disposal method was being used at the farms."

Also on April 24, Biggers said he believed the "waste is now accumulating in the (holding) ponds."

On May 1, Ed Hicks, who owns property adjacent to the egg farms, said Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim took him to the farm "a few weeks ago" to show the current method for disposing of the waste/wastewater.

Hicks said what he saw is a plow method, and he wasn't very impressed.

Vernon Rowe, an engineer who works on many Pilgrim's projects, said two pieces of equipment are being used on the farms to handle the wastewater from the holding ponds, or lagoons.

One piece of equipment is "a plow like what's used to plow ground, ... except the plow portion is fixed with pipe to allow the wastewater to flow." Rowe noted there are nine injectors that, following the plowing, sends the wastewater 18 to 24 inches below the ground's surface.

On the farms' plowed fields, corn has been planted. It is growing well, Rowe added.

The other piece of equipment is an aerway, like a ground aerator. It is "a cutter that goes along and breaks the ground," Rowe said; therefore, the wastewater put on the ground can flow to the subsurface. The aerway method is used on pasture land, "where you don't want the ground as broken" as it gets when worked by a plow.

Rowe, on May 2, said "we think these are excellent methods of managing the wastewater."

TNRCC will decide if they are acceptable methods. Biggers said an inspection by regional TNRCC officials was conducted at Strube on March 27.

"Once the (inspection) report is filed, then we'll decide" if the new extension will be granted, or if fines for environmental violations will be accessed, Biggers summarized in late April.

If the extension is granted, the process for obtaining a waste/wastewater permit through TNRCC will continue. If the extension is not granted, a decision concerning the future of Strube Egg Farms operation, based on TNRCC's 1999 order, will be expected.

Are the egg farms receiving special allowances by TNRCC? Adjacent property owner Ed Hicks said "yes." Pilgrim's CEO Cliff Butler said "no."