Other Stories this issue

Mr. Tyson’s Neighborhood

State Chip Mill Committee 
Releases Report

Big Industry Wants Different Rules
for Electricity in Missouri

Outings

Genetic Engineering in the News

We Defend Clean Air Suit

State Assembly Legislation
Overshadowed by Races

Thomas Moran - new chapter
political chair

New Opportunities for Roadless Areas

Smart Growth - Congestion Pricing

Archives

Mr. Tyson’s Neighborhood
...... and Mr. Simmons and Mr. M0–Ark
 by Ken Midkiff and Caroline Pufalt 

Albert Midoux and Hobart Bartley know chickens. These former USDA meat inspectors once worked in the massive slaughterhouses of Hudson’s (now Tyson's) and Simmons' in McDonald County, Missouri, ‘way down there in the southwest corner of the state. Hobart and Albert also know their area well — where all the poultry houses are located, where the waste is dumped, and what has happened to the streams and rivers as a result. On any given day, there are 26 million chickens in McDonald County. On that same day, Tyson’s slaughterhouse will “process” 300,000 of those chickens and Simmons' a like number. Six hundred thousand a day, three MILLION chickens a week — killed, cleaned, cut up, packed in ice, and shipped out. The innards from these and several other plants are rendered into various products in the slaughterhouses’ “protein plants.” A lot of wastewater is created in all of this slaughtering, cutting, cleaning, and rendering: each of these facilities generates about 1.2 million gallons of wastewater per day. Simmons' discharges into the now infamous Cave Springs Branch; and Tyson’s wastewater goes into the Elk River. Add to this the huge egg laying houses of Mo–Ark Industries — several million laying hens contained in those notorious little cages, stacked so that the wastes of the cages above drip over the metal ceiling of the ones below. All of this liquid crap ends up in a large pit and then is tanked out and sprayed on local fields. This can best be described as a stinking mess… The Elk River and its tributaries receive all of this waste, from the slaughterhouses, the broiler growing operations (ten buildings each with 22,000 chickens in each building), and the laying facilities. Twenty–six million chickens’ worth of waste. These were the sites, sights, and smells that greeted several Ozark Chapter leaders who were taken on tours of “Mr. Tyson’s Neighborhood” by Albert Midoux and Lynette and Hobart Bartley. It sounds bad enough just reading about it, but up close and personal, it is really ugly. And it smells worse. The Ozark Chapter has been involved for several years now in pushing the state and federal agencies to bring the companies’ polluting ways under control. This has involved public hearings, administrative appeals, posting warning signs on Cave Springs Branch, and assisting local residents in getting the story out to the media and the public. Sierrans gather at Neosho A group of Sierrans in southwest Missouri has been involved, along with other concerned citizens, in bringing the problems of “big chicken” to the public’s attention. Those Sierrans have joined together in an interest group called Thunderidge. In November the Ozark Chapter Conservation and Executive Committees met with local Sierra Club members and other interested folks in Neosho Missouri to share dinner and conversation. The local group has not spent all its time on big chicken problems, although that issue alone takes considerable attention. It has also addressed dairy CAFO issues, expanding local recycling options, and has active stream team participation through the leadership of Bill Miller. Several of the chapter conservation and executive committee members had not met the active Sierrans in southwest Missouri prior to this weekend. Thus we all enjoyed our visit and a chance to see some of the sights in southwestern Missouri. The fact that some of those sights were less than glamorous only reinforced the appreciation of the work that local conservationists are doing.