MEDIA ALERT: Public to Confront Sussex County DE Chicken Wastewater Dumping Scheme

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Opposition to DNREC proposed permit lodged by new community group; Massive amounts of Allen Harim Harbeson poultry plant Ëœslaughter water’ a threat to local wells & public health

 WHAT:           A public hearing by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) on proposed controversial amendments to the Artesian Northern Sussex Regional Water Reclamation Facility (ANSRWRF) construction permit application. Will include public testimony & written submissions from community members opposing the flawed process & risks to local residents.

WHEN:             Thursday, July 27, 2017 | 6:00 P.M. ET

WHERE:         Milton Library | 121 Union Street, Milton, DE 19968

WHO:                 Sussex County community group, Keep Our Wells Clean

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Big Chicken & the State of Delaware hoped no one was paying attention. When the proposed Villages of Elizabethtown project next to Milton was abandoned in 2007, the planned Artesian Northern Sussex Regional Wastewater Recharge Facility (ANSRWRF) should have gone with it. Developed by Artesian Wastewater Management, it was to service the 3,700 new homes to be built along Routes 16 & 30. Now there would be no homes to service. And yet, State and County approvals moved forward. In 2013 DNREC and Sussex County issued construction permits for the facility. It became a mammoth water treatment operation in search of a need.

The push for filling that need is currently focused on poultry giant and large-scale local polluter, Allen Harim’s Harbeson mega processing plant. The same operation that has received negative public attention for its hazardous wastewater discharges into Beaverdam Creek and a DNREC-issued Notice of Violation listing over 90 violations from 2012 to 2016. One sample of Enterococcus bacteria in Beaverdam Creek was reported at 9,000 times the allowable limit.

It’s a fact. Private groundwater wells and public health will be put at-risk by the proposed daily disposal of millions and millions of gallons of industrial Ëœslaughter water’ from Allen Harim’s poultry operation. A stew of chicken entrails, feathers, blood and fecal matter. And yet the permit process is continuing.

But people are paying attention, and they’re going to be heard at the Milton Library on Thursday night. The question is: will anyone be listening?

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Media contacts

Maria Payan, SRAP | mariap@sraproject.org | 717-826-7286

Anthony Scarpa, Keep Our Wells Clean | ajsinc1@aol.com | 908-963-9588