5 years, 6 months ago by Scott Hardy
JBS accused of dumping nitrogen into tributary of Illinois River
US Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois has asked the US Environmental Protection Agency to more closely monitor a Beardstown pork processing plant.
Durbin said Tuesday that he sent a letter to the EPA asking it to require the JBS plant at Beardstown to file discharge reports and to install existing technology to limit pollution. Durbin also wants tougher national standards for water pollution limits. In a series of tweets Tuesday, Durbin also said that hel’ll also be asking the EPA to step up its monitoring of the Beardstown plant, and to "enforce strong penalties for non-compliance."
A report in the Chicago Tribune said that according to the Environmental Integrity Project, JBS discharged more nitrogen from animal waste into Illinois's inland waterways in 2017 than any other slaughterhouse in the country. On average, just under a ton of nitrogen was released every day into a tributary of the Illinois River.
