There was a large sewage lagoon breach at the JBS plant east of Grand Island on Jan. 6. (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND — The Hall County Board of Commissioners voted 7-0 Tuesday, Feb. 13, to send a letter to JBS concerning a large wastewater lagoon breach at the meatpacking plant that sent water into Wood River, killing fish and leaving sludge in the river.
Commissioner Jane Richardson, who lives at Kuester Lake east of JBS, drafted the letter. The letter also will be sent to state Senators Ray Aguilar, Loren Lippincott, and Fred Meyer.
“The county board urges JBS to become more accountable in policies and practices concerning air and water environmental issues. The noncompliance issues are exceedingly far too frequent and need to be addressed,” the letter said.
The letter started by describing the Jan. 30 Hall County Board of Commissioners meeting, which drew a standing-room only group of residents who live at lake subdivisions east of the JBS plant. Richardson placed discussion of the JBS lagoon breach on the agenda and invited officials from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) to attend the meeting. The letter notes that JBS was contacted more than once about attending the meeting, but no representative attended.
NDEE officials described the lagoon breach when more than two million gallons of sludge entered the Wood River. NDEE officials addressed concerns about the safety of drinking water, because residents at the lake subdivisions get their drinking water from private wells. Residents were also concerned about the safety of swimming in the private lakes.
Richardson had spent time prior to Jan. 30 looking at public records about JBS violations available on the NDEE website. The letter noted that the website “reveals approximately one or more violations from the JBS plant per month. This appears to be an unreasonable number of issues and needs to be addressed.”
At the Jan. 30 meeting, it was suggested that outside testing of the JBS lagoons be completed by a third party at JBS’s expense. The letter said it has also been suggested that a committee be formed including county, city, and JBS representatives.
