August 21, 2009
Tyson to pay US$2 million for river pollution
Tyson Fresh Meats, the world's largest beef and pork supplier, will pay US$2 million for pumping animal waste into the Missouri River, the Justice Department said Thursday (Aug 20).
Justice said the company, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, Arkansas, illegally discharged waste into the river from a beef processing facility in Dakota City, Nebraska.
The government said the company did not adequately treat the wastewater it discharges into the river, so fecal coliform and nitrates were discharged.
Officials said the discharges caused high levels of toxicity to aquatic life in the river.
Regulators said Tyson discharges an average of five million gallons of treated wastewater from the facility into the river each day.
In a statement late Thursday (Aug 20), Tyson Foods said the wastewater issues at the plant had been resolved and the water treatment system there was operating effectively.
