Jefferson City, Mo.-State investigators are downplaying reports of suspicious barrels being buried at the St. Joseph tannery plant. Sludge at the plant is produced for use as fertilizer, which is being tested for chromium 6 contamination (GM July 13, p. 14). Missouri Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Susanne Medley told Green Markets, “The state is investigating a complaint of the barrels being buried. It’s another complaint that we have received and is being looked at in the normal course of things.” MDNR has also participated with EPA in taking and testing samples from farmland that received the processed material, but so far no serious chromium contamination has been detected. Other farm areas are being tested. Medley said a former tannery worker had filed a formal complaint claiming that barrels had been buried at the tannery, but he didn’t know what was inside the barrels. The tannery, operated by National Beef Leathers, is also the object of lawsuits claiming the fertilizer is the cause of brain tumors.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain