Court: Maryland must revise Valley Proteins' wastewater permit

A court has ruled the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) must revise its wastewater discharge permit for Valley Proteins’ animal byproduct rendering plant in Linkwood.

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A court has ruled the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) must revise its wastewater discharge permit for Valley Proteins’ animal byproduct rendering plant in Linkwood.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), Dorchester Citizens for Planned Growth (DCPG), Friends of the Nanticoke River, ShoreRivers and Wicomico Environmental Trust (WET) challenged the state's permit in February 2023 for its failure to meaningfully reduce the plant’s discharge of wastewater that contributes to unhealthy water quality in the Transquaking River, Higgins Mill Pond and Chesapeake Bay.

The permit would have failed to meaningfully reduce the amount of nutrients — nitrogen and phosphorus — in Valley Proteins’ Transquaking River watershed. The permit would have allowed Valley Proteins to expand its wastewater discharge from an annual average of 150,000 gallons per day to up to 575,000 gallons per day if the plant meets certain discharge requirements for ammonia, biological oxygen demand and dissolved oxygen.

Under the decision issued by the Circuit Court for Dorchester County, MDE must revise the permit to be consistent with state and federal law.

MDE’s past issues with Valley Proteins

In September 2022, Valley Proteins reached a settlement with Maryland’s attorney general and Department of the Environment in a lawsuit that alleged illegal discharge of pollutants by the company into a nearby waterway. A consent decree settled the lawsuit filed in February 2022 by Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh on behalf of the MDE that alleged Valley Proteins had repeatedly discharged ammonia, phosphorus and other pollutants into the Transquaking River for well over a year. Valley Proteins’ illegal discharge of pollutants was in violation of its NPDES permit and state water pollution laws, and included failure to implement stormwater pollution plan best management practices, numerous unauthorized discharges of wastewater, sludge and solids, and violations of its air emissions permit.

In December 2021, operations at the Linkwood facility were suspended in response to an inspection report from the MDE that listed numerous needed corrections. According to an MDE press release, the inspection report required the company “to set forth planned actions to ensure that future operations will comply with discharge limits and permit terms. The proposal is subject to MDE review as the department and the facility work toward an agreement, in the form of a consent order, on moving forward.”

Valley Proteins operates 18 major rendering and used cooking oil facilities throughout the southern, southeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S., and employs 1,900 employees and operates a fleet of 550 vehicles. Darling Ingredients acquired Valley Proteins in 2022.

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