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- BURLISON, Tenn. - Secluded
off a dirt road at the remote northwest corner of Tipton County, Tenn.,
Add-Van Farms & Co. is just about as far away from it all as you can
get.
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- It might not be far enough.
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- Despite recent improvements, the company, which applies
sewage sludge on fields for crops, continues to draw odor complaints from
neighbors and remains a focus of state and federal environmental regulators.
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- Officials at a national wildlife agency are expressing
concern about the operation.
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- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collected samples
of creek water and sediments after receiving complaints from users of the
Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge that adjoins the Add-Van property.
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- Randy Cook, manager of a group of refuges for the service,said
officials discovered "tremendously offensive" odors and noticed
some runoff from the sludge-farming process.
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- The samples have been sent to a laboratory for analysis.
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- Add-Van Farms owns property across Tennessee where sludge
from cities and industries is injected into fields in a process called
"land application."
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- About half of all cities and towns nationwide use land
application to get rid of their sewage sludge.
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- At the site in western Tipton County, the company applies
municipal sludge from Covington, Tenn., and industrial sludge from food-processing
companies, including the makers of whipped cream and brand-name products
such as Slimfast.
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- Company president Van Bringle said Add-Van has done its
best to comply with environmental regulations.
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- "I think we have a top-notch operation," he
said.
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- But government files show the company has had trouble
complying with environmental regulations during the past year and a half.
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- In March 1999, the Tennessee Department of Environment
and Conservation investigated the site after receiving complaints. Officials
found discolored runoff leaving the property into a tributary to a creek
that flows into the Hatchie River. Two months later, inspectors found a
levee had been breached, allowing malodorous, discolored liquids to flow
into ditches and wetlands that eventually drain into the Hatchie.
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- As a result of the water-quality violations, the state
assessed Add-Van a $5,000 civil penalty that the company has appealed to
the Tennessee Water Quality Control Board.
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- In January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
issued an administrative order requiring Add-Van Farms to correct problems
identified in a May 1999 inspection.
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- Federal inspectors saw liquid sludge discharged from
trucks and spread with a front-end loader. The concentrated sludge pooled
on the surface, according to EPA.
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- Add-Van had overapplied sludge - putting down more than
the soil can absorb - on some of its property, according to government
inspectors.
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