notice

since October 15, 1999, and continue to the present. The violations are set out in greater
detail and specificity in Appendix A to the notice, which is incorporated by reference.
Cargill is legally responsible for violations occurring on or after August 27, 2001.
The NFMRR facility has, since the imposition of annual load effluent limits for total
phosphorus in November, 2004, exceeded the limits by many magnitudes in 2004, 2005,
2006, and 2007. Phosphorus discharges from the NFMRR exceed and have exceeded
effluent limits by over 800%. In addition, annual TN load limits that became effective in
November, 2004, were exceeded by a substantial margin in 2005 and 2006. SIL reported
violations of its effluent limits for CBOD5 (monthly average concentration) and ammonia
(monthly average load and monthly average concentration) as recently as April 30, 2007.
Other discharges at the NFMRR have resulted from spills at several pump stations that
direct waste to the facility. These spills have occurred consistently, but irregularly, from
June 1, 2002 to the present. Five spills of up to 150,000 gallons of poultry processing
wastewater into the North Fork have occurred at the Cargill pump station, including the
latest one on June 9, 2006.
The overwhelming majority of the influent wastewater to the NFMRR comes from PPC
and Cargill; the poultry processors generate, handle, and then transport over 1.1 MGD of
their poultry processing wastes to the SIL. Over 23% of the phosphorus and 11% of the
nitrogen in the influent wastewater that is sent to NFMRR is from Cargill.
1. Cargill Transports Highly Concentrated Poultry Processing
Wastes to the NFMRR
Since August 27, 2001, Cargill has each day sent, and continues to send, raw poultry
processing waste to the NFMRR that contains extremely elevated levels of nitrogen and
phosphorus, ammonia, fecal coliform, CBOD, BOD, TSS, and lesser amounts of toxic or
hazardous substances such as arsenic, selenium, zinc, copper, and pathogens, as well as
chemical disinfectants such as sulfuric acid and quaternary ammonia, and biocides such
as tributyltin (“TBT”). Cargill each day fails, and has failed, to pretreat its poultry
processing wastes before transporting them to the NFMRR since August 27, 2001.
2. Pollution Loads Sent From Cargill Exceed, and Have Exceeded,
the Capacity of the NFMRR and Overburden the Facility
SIL describes the vast amount of poultry processing waste it receives from PPC and
Cargill as “high-strength wastewater”. This influent wastewater is high in BOD5,
nitrogen, phosphorous, and oil and grease. The level of BOD5 and amount of nitrogen
that the NFMRR receives in the influent wastewater exceeds, and has exceeded, the
design capacity of the facility since August 27, 2001. Also, influent flows from Cargill
have exceeded the NFMRR capacity allocated for the facility since that date. Cargill
exceeds the TN concentrations the NFMRR was designed to treat (“design
concentrations”). These excess influent loads have overwhelmed and overburdened the
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