Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Sonny's Do To The DNR Board

Governor Perdue appointed Joe Hatfield, chairman of Fieldale Farms Corporation, to the DNR Board in 2006. He was confirmed by Senator Tommie Williams et al in the same action that excluded Sally Bethea of Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.

Here's Fieldale’s violations of environmental regulations - about $100,000 in fines for seven different consent orders.

But wait! There's more! Mr. Hatfield was placed on the DNR Board’s Environmental Protection Committee - the most important regulatory committee on the board.

I think we can now safely say... the fox is soooo guarding the hen house.

Executed orders:

Under authority of the Water Quality Control Act (including Surface Water Allocation):

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation, land application system/Toccoa
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-4674
Date of Issue:
January 29, 2007
Cause of Order:
Sludge spill/fish kill in Big Tom's Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Provide interim plan for operation/maintenance of existing pretreatment system to comply with Permit; submit maintenance/replacement schedule for protein conversion cooker; submit spill containment plan
Settlement Amount:
$35808.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-4001
Date of Issue:
June 21, 2002
Cause of Order:
Fish kill at South Fork of Mud Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Develop/implement a current and approvable stormwater pollution prevention plan; submit complete, detailed facility evaluation and diagram, by certified engineer; submit written standard operating plan
Settlement Amount:
$10543.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-3732
Date of Issue:
May 30, 2000
Cause of Order:
Violations of Industrial Pretreatment Permit
Requirement(s) of Order:
Submit standard operating procedure for correctly calculating data reported on discharge monitoring reports; develop/submit approvable program for routine calibration and maintenance of flow meters;
Settlement Amount:
$37250.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-PCEP-99-120
Date of Issue:
July 09, 1999
Cause of Order:
Pretreatment Permit violation
Requirement(s) of Order:
Correct immediately
Settlement Amount:
$750.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-WQ-3592
Date of Issue:
February 15, 1999
Cause of Order:
Spill/fish kill to Big Tom's Creek
Requirement(s) of Order:
Implement spill prevention and containment plan
Settlement Amount:
$10000.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Stephens County
Order Number:
EPD-ERT-WQ-3577
Date of Issue:
January 07, 1999
Cause of Order:
Chemical spill/fish kill
Requirement(s) of Order:
Immediately notify proper authority in the event of future spills or releases
Settlement Amount:
$3000.00

Facility:
Fieldale Farms Corporation
Location:
Habersham County
Order Number:
EPD-PCEP-98-075
Date of Issue:
December 09, 1998
Cause of Order:
Industrial pretreatment permit violations
Requirement(s) of Order:
Comply immediately
Settlement Amount:
$3000.00

Information courtesy of UCR.

2 comments:

Sara said...

Interesting. I wonder if Fieldale owns the chicken farms that are a stone's throw from my parents' neighborhood in Habersham County. I'll be up there today, may do a little drive-by...

djones said...

An open letter to:

To: Atlanta Journal
cc: Gloria Butler - Senator, GA
Robert Mumford - Senator, GA
Tommie Williams - Senator, GA
Department of Natural Resources Board
The Spacey Gracey Review

It's still happening. If government employees try to actually do their jobs and protect the citizens from polluted water and air at the perceived cost of business profits, those officials are harassed, vilified, or even fired. That's what is obviously happening to Sally Bethea.

The repeated fish kills by Fieldale Farms Corporation has results in fines against the company with apparently with little or no effort by Fieldale Farms to actually change their ways. It's apparently more cost affective to get the Govenor to appoint the Fieldale Farms chairman Joe Hatfield to the Department of Natural Resources. Once there, Mr. Hatfield can then lobby for changes that might reduce his cost, albiet at the expense of continuing to pollute waterways in Georgia. Although Mrs. Bethea may have appeared to be tough on polluters, she always could substantiate her position with facts, evidence, and the law.

Well how is a developer supposed to make gross profits cutting corners with a watchdog like that? Easy, get rid of them! Bethea is the third pro-environment voice to be removed from the board in recent months.

Senator Tommie Williams, chairman of the Senate Committee on Assignments was the apparent hatchet man using the excuse that Mrs. Bethea was a lobbiest. What a scandal! A lobbiest for a non profit organization promoting clean water and air! Almost as bad as a horse thief! Come on, get real. I hope some investigative reporter will look into some political 'contributions' or what the definition of 'entertainment' is today for the honorable Senator and others as well. FOLLOW THE MONEY! It's a shame how transparent this move is, and how much arrogance and huberous is tolerated.

I'm for economic progress, but not at the expense of the environment. The environment and development are not antonyms or mutually exclusive. However some businesses are just too lazy, to greedy, or are just not good enough to be able to make a profit without cutting corners. Shouldn't the 'market' weed out these businesses that can't cut it without cutting corners?

I hope this is investigated and exposed for what it really is. Greed.

D Jones