Well, that didn’t take long. Two months after firing up its expanded cheese plant in Lake Norden, Agropur is already pouring more pollution into the Big Sioux River than the law allows:
The newly expanded Agropur cheese plant in Lake Norden, S.D., is facing a possible fine from state regulators after tests showed the plant’s wastewater that is dumped directly into the Big Sioux River violated state pollution limits in four categories.
Tests of the wastewater released in the expanded plant’s first two months of operation showed nine violations for excessive amounts of nitrates and ammonia and high levels of alkalinity and conductivity, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [Bart Pfankuch, “Expanded S.D. Cheese Plant Violates Pollution Limits,” South Dakota News Watch, 2019.07.19].
Nitrates won’t kill us, but Agropur has shown right off the bat that it can’t live up to its name or its promises.
Thanks for spotlighting this worrisome development, Cory.
But you must not underestimate the impact of nitrates in water.
Here’s a recent report prompted by research performed by the Environmental Working Group.
WASHINGTON – Nitrate pollution of U.S. drinking water may cause up to 12,594 cases of cancer a year, according to a new peer-reviewed study by the Environmental Working Group.
For the groundbreaking study, published today in the journal Environmental Research, EWG scientists estimated the number of cancer cases in each state that could be attributed to nitrate contamination of public water systems, largely caused by farm runoff containing fertilizer and manure. They also estimated the costs of treating those cases at up to $1.5 billion a year.
“Nitrate contamination of drinking water is a serious problem, and especially severe in the nation’s farm country,” said Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., EWG senior science advisor and one of the study’s authors. “Now, for the first time, we can see the staggering consequences of this pollution.”
The current federal drinking water standard for nitrate, set in 1962, is 10 parts per million, or ppm. Yet several well-regarded epidemiological studies have linked nitrate in drinking water with cancer and other serious health issues at levels less than one-tenth of the legal limit. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency suspended plans to reevaluate its outdated nitrate standard.
Four-fifths of EWG’s estimated cases were occurences of colorectal cancer, with ovarian, thyroid, kidney and bladder cancer making up the rest. Nitrate in tap water has also been linked with serious neonatal health issues. EWG estimated that nitrate pollution may be responsible for as many as 2,939 cases of very low birth weight; 1,725 cases of very preterm birth; and 41 cases of neural tube defects.
“Millions of Americans are being involuntarily exposed to nitrate, and they are also the ones paying the heavy costs of treating contaminated tap water,” said Alexis Temkin, Ph.D., a toxicologist at EWG and primary author of the study. “But the federal government is not doing enough to protect Americans from tap water contamination.”
EWG scientists estimate the level at which there would occur no adverse health effects from nitrate in drinking water to be 0.14 milligrams per liter – equivalent to parts per million. That level, 70 times lower than the EPA’s legal limit, represents a one-in-one-million risk of cancer.
When I worked the overnight shift (1971) in the cheese factory in Big Stone, Frigo paid to have the whey collected in tanker trucks, where it eventually was sprayed on crops as fertilizer. Agropur found a “whey” to forego those costs, huh? Dump this “whey”, (with an arrow pointing to the river) ➼
PS … It’s always funny when Power’s porn shows up accidently in one of his post, especially when it’s one where Rounds brags about gutting Obamacare and makes up lies about it’s affect.
Who didn’t see this coming down the pike with a &^%$ – eating grin on its face?
I always have pause when discussions come to the “right” amount of pollution companies are allowed to dump into the environment. It always comes off as another corporate welfare handout where corporations are not being asked to clean up the messes they make because that would threaten their bottom lines.
The easiest cure will be for Smilin’ Mike and Not-so-smilin’ Kristi to arrange for the EPA to go somewhere’s else to bother people.
“Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency suspended plans to reevaluate its outdated nitrate standard.” Of course. Hide the bad news.
Are surprised? We are not.
Profits before lives, the very definition of bloodthirsty.
And where is the Christian rage over the poor stewardship of God’s environment? I suppose we wish only to apply Biblical foundation to areas of governance not applicable to profiteering.
Agropur has to pump contaminants into the Big Sioux so the CEO can afford “conspicuous consumption.”
Today the Strib published it’s annual list of Minnesota’s top 50 CEOs by compensation. $35 million was top of the list, Graco Inc, more than 400x the average hourly rate. Lee Schaefer, a topnotch and award winning business columnist, wrote today on Conspicuous Consumption. The theory was originated by Dr. Thorstein Veblen, from a small town about 15 miles from me. Schaefer was trying to wrap his head around the grotesque nature of 21st century exec compensation. This is his summary of Veblen’s take:
“In this view, the work of industry includes enhancing efficiency and building the highest quality and most useful things in the market.
“The work of business, though, might mean lobbying regulators to block upstarts, judging how much to gouge farmers utterly reliant on your railroad to get their corn to market, hiring away a competitor’s top salespeople and so on.
” ‘The business executives are saboteurs,” [Paul Vaaler, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota] said, summarizing this argument. ‘The sabotage is to somehow upset the market, the invisible hand, to your benefit.’
“And the ‘reward for effective sabotage,’ he added, ‘is conspicuous consumption.’
“That Veblen term about showy spending is the best remembered part of his 1899 book ‘The Theory of the Leisure Class.'”
“There’s clearly signaling going on in awarding the whopping pay packages of American CEOs. Relative pay seems far more important than what the money can buy, as CEOs look at what their peers are getting and what that says about their own status.”
Vaaler added, “It’s not rational.” I take that to mean it makes no reasonable economic sense on the part of the business.
http://strib.mn/2GmcCgR
I think Schaefer nailed it very well. When I say it’s about greed, conspicuous consumption is what I’m thinking.
One thing Schaefer didn’t mention, is mental disorders. I contend that CEOs who are wrapped up in this $ race are uncaring about the hardships it visits upon the hourly employees. I believe those CEOs have sociopathic tendencies.
I will email Schaefer and ask him to interview some psychologists and follow up with that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_baby_syndrome
So true, Debbo. It’s come down to, the main task of CEO’s is to stop regulation by any means possible. We liberals can’t over regulate and stifle growth but we must, for the sake of humanity, require sensible regulations.
Business will lie, cheat, and steal. It’s what to expect. No trust of business is warranted!
Cancer! Uh oh! Thanks for that medical update, Pete!
Pollution permits as corporate welfare—that’s a good way to look at environmental deregulation, O! When I create waste at my house, Aberdeen city government doesn’t me apply for a permit to simply throw a certain amount straight into the street or into Moccasin Creek: I’m expected to put all of my garbage in city garbage cans and pump all of my wastewater into the city sewer and pay full fees for each service. Why do corporations get to dump any of their waste directly into the environment?
Here’s what Agropur is up to in Minnesota and Wisconsin:
“For Organic Valley’s Ultra products, USDA-certified organic milk is run through a filter that strains out lactose, reducing many of the milk’s naturally occurring sugars. A lactase enzyme is then added to make the product lactose-free. The process concentrates the milk, resulting in a more dense protein ratio.
“Ultra comes in half-gallon options of whole, 2%, 2% chocolate and skim. Organic Valley is contracting with co-packer Agropur in St. Paul to process their milk. Ultra debuts Monday at Whole Foods nationwide and will begin appearing in other national retailers in late October.”
http://strib.mn/2Z7P9Yb paywall
Thanks for the 411 on Ultra filtered, lactose-free, dairy products and their coming debut on Amazon/Whole Foods. You have to believe that Coca-Cola can’t be trusted to care about consumers or standards. Much the same struggles for organic and Country of Origin labeling are happening in the hemp industry, where $30,000 memberships to an uncertified and non-American group are attempting to monopolize hemp.
Shady agricultural practices, at the beginning, iate what ruined California cannabis and it needs to be curtailed at the onset, before the industry goes any farther.
Thanks Pete Carrels for your post about the dangers of nitrates in drinking water. excessive nitrates cause metahemaglobanemia or blue baby syndrome in infants and the elderly. It It also very dangerous to livestock and can wipe out a herd that drinks contaminated water