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DAAA Collective Flyer on the Tallow Plant
Information about the Modesto Tallow Plant - and what you can do!
SHUT DOWN THE TALLOW PLANT!
The Modesto Tallow Plant, (located on the south side of Modesto, off of Crows Landing road), is a facility open since 1917, that renders dead animals and oil from fast food companies into animal feed and other products. In doing so, the Modesto plant creates a horrible smell of dead animals, and the rendering process which turns them into products. When the plant was first built, the plant did not have many neighbors, but since 1948, a nearby school has existed only a couple blocks away. Children, local businesses, and people living near the plant suffer day in and day out from the horrible smell, despite sometimes daily complaints against it, and large amounts of charges for violating air pollution laws. The plant now is facing a lawsuit of almost ¾ of a million dollars, forcing the plant back into the news, and manifesting local resistance against it.
The Tallow Plant is also a glaring instance of environmental racism in a poor and working class community. The owner of the plant lives in Texas, far away from the smell, and disassociated from the destruction that the plant is causing. The city, while fining the plant repeatedly, has also not taken serious action to ensure that the plant will be shut down, or at the very least brought up to par to ensure that it will stop releasing the disgusting smell. It is hard to imagine a Tallow Plant existing anywhere else than in a poor community that is populated largely by working class, and people of color. This is an example of racism at work, when a large company uses it’s power to continue operating in an area that it thinks can not defend itself.
Some Facts About the Tallow Plant:
-Modesto Tallow has violated more air pollution laws than any company in the San Joaquin Valley. Their violations include creating a public nuisance, malfunctioning equipment, and failure to render animal carcasses within 24 hours.
-Half of the $1.4 million dollars that Modesto Tallow owes various agencies in fines has not been paid.
-Modesto Tallow refuses to pay at least ¾ of a million dollars in fines dating since 2002.
-The company has failed to pay property taxes.
-In 2003 Modesto Tallow was sued for leaking blood and animal parts into roads by the facility.
-In 2005, Modesto Tallow refused to clean up animal parts, (guts, hooves, etc), that trucks going to the facility left in by the near by school.
-Modesto Tallow was also suspended in Oregon in 2003 and 2004 for violating the clean water act, polluting rivers with chicken waste.
-Odor from the plant is bad at night and on weekends, when district officials aren’t able to investigate.
-Students at the nearby school suffer with headaches, vomiting, and poor school scores.
-Diary and feed industries pressure state lawmakers to pass favorable laws towards rendering plants, protecting places like Modesto Tallow from shutting down or fines. These laws are cited by Modesto Tallow as proof that they do not have to pay administrative fines. (Taken from Modesto Bee).
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
-If you live in the local area, and the smell affects you, call 1-800-281-7003, which is the air district’s complaint hotline.
-Make copies of this flyer, and share it with others!
-Call the Modesto Tallow Plant and complain! (209) 522-7224.
-Email us at: modanarcho [at] yahoo.com, and stay up on information about actions against the Tallow Plant.
The Modesto Tallow Plant, (located on the south side of Modesto, off of Crows Landing road), is a facility open since 1917, that renders dead animals and oil from fast food companies into animal feed and other products. In doing so, the Modesto plant creates a horrible smell of dead animals, and the rendering process which turns them into products. When the plant was first built, the plant did not have many neighbors, but since 1948, a nearby school has existed only a couple blocks away. Children, local businesses, and people living near the plant suffer day in and day out from the horrible smell, despite sometimes daily complaints against it, and large amounts of charges for violating air pollution laws. The plant now is facing a lawsuit of almost ¾ of a million dollars, forcing the plant back into the news, and manifesting local resistance against it.
The Tallow Plant is also a glaring instance of environmental racism in a poor and working class community. The owner of the plant lives in Texas, far away from the smell, and disassociated from the destruction that the plant is causing. The city, while fining the plant repeatedly, has also not taken serious action to ensure that the plant will be shut down, or at the very least brought up to par to ensure that it will stop releasing the disgusting smell. It is hard to imagine a Tallow Plant existing anywhere else than in a poor community that is populated largely by working class, and people of color. This is an example of racism at work, when a large company uses it’s power to continue operating in an area that it thinks can not defend itself.
Some Facts About the Tallow Plant:
-Modesto Tallow has violated more air pollution laws than any company in the San Joaquin Valley. Their violations include creating a public nuisance, malfunctioning equipment, and failure to render animal carcasses within 24 hours.
-Half of the $1.4 million dollars that Modesto Tallow owes various agencies in fines has not been paid.
-Modesto Tallow refuses to pay at least ¾ of a million dollars in fines dating since 2002.
-The company has failed to pay property taxes.
-In 2003 Modesto Tallow was sued for leaking blood and animal parts into roads by the facility.
-In 2005, Modesto Tallow refused to clean up animal parts, (guts, hooves, etc), that trucks going to the facility left in by the near by school.
-Modesto Tallow was also suspended in Oregon in 2003 and 2004 for violating the clean water act, polluting rivers with chicken waste.
-Odor from the plant is bad at night and on weekends, when district officials aren’t able to investigate.
-Students at the nearby school suffer with headaches, vomiting, and poor school scores.
-Diary and feed industries pressure state lawmakers to pass favorable laws towards rendering plants, protecting places like Modesto Tallow from shutting down or fines. These laws are cited by Modesto Tallow as proof that they do not have to pay administrative fines. (Taken from Modesto Bee).
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
-If you live in the local area, and the smell affects you, call 1-800-281-7003, which is the air district’s complaint hotline.
-Make copies of this flyer, and share it with others!
-Call the Modesto Tallow Plant and complain! (209) 522-7224.
-Email us at: modanarcho [at] yahoo.com, and stay up on information about actions against the Tallow Plant.
For more information:
http://www.modanarcho.tk
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In the north state, one corporation has a virtual monopoly on collecting used cooking oil from local restaurants. North State Rendering corporation collects used cooking oil from near Sacramanto north to the Oregon border. This is based on contracts with the local restaurants and a licensing application process that excludes people without the corporate clout of North State Rendering. NSR then converts the used veggie oil into animal feed products and resell for profit..
People who wish to collect cooking oil for free from local restaurants are restricted from doing so by North State Rendering's hold on this resource. Restaurants owners are obligated to pay North State Rendering to remove their used cooking oil by this same cumbersome process. To say there is a series of obstacles in the licensing application process insurmountable by the average person sounds like a conspiracy, yet this is often the case of people challenging a monopoly of a corporation..
While North State Rendering claims to be environmentally friendly as a recycling business, they are in fact a for profit recycling monopoly. If only North State Rendering is able to contract with almost all the restaurants of the North State, they may be in violation of anti-trust laws..
Somehow NSR managed to get the Butte County Air Quality Management District involved to prevent a biodiesel collective from gaining access to the used veggie oil. The BCAQMD used their regulatory status to block the biodiesel collective from access to the oil. The lengthy licensing application process is the needed delay to discourage only the most determined biodiesel advocates from continuing on this path. If anything the biodiesel collective will cause less air pollution than NSR..
Article from the CN&R about North State Rendering;
"The Chico Biodiesel Collective is finding out just how valuable the stuff can be. Last summer, the collective received a $20,000 grant from the Butte County Air Quality Management District (BCAQMD) so it could continue educating people about and producing biodiesel, a clean-burning, renewable fuel made from used cooking oil. What the collective didn't initially know was that, by accepting donations of used fry grease from local restaurants, it was not only breaking the law, but also cutting into the profits of another local business.
That business, it turns out, seems to have had enough political clout to make the air quality district take back the grant money, leaving the small but feisty group with an expensive one-year lease on a new facility and a bunch of high-minded plans in limbo.
Collective leader Devin O'Keane said the air quality district rescinded the grant over the demands of North State Rendering, a local company that turns used cooking oil into poultry feed. North State charges restaurants to dispose of their grease, then processes it into feed and other products to sell at a profit.
When the company found out that O'Keane's hippie collective was trying to muscle in on its racket, it hit back, telling BCAQMD Air Quality Officer Jim Wagoner that the collective was operating illegally, lacking the necessary grease-rendering permits from the meat processing branch of the USDA. Wagoner confirmed that his office pulled the grant on the basis of information given to him by a representative of North State Rendering.
"Based on the information we were given, there are certain registrations you have to have to collect and transport this used restaurant grease, which the collective didn't have," he said.
Wagoner said that, after being contacted by North State, he realized that "we don't know that [the collective] will be able to secure all the licenses and registrations in a timely manner to carry out the grant." Upon further questioning, Wagoner admitted the district "could have dug a little deeper" before the grant was approved.
O'Keane said he was dumbfounded by the district's decision, especially since the grant proposal specifically stated that part of the grant money was to be used for obtaining the necessary licenses and permits. He said he had received a compliance warning--not a violation--from the USDA in July, and that he has since applied for a rendering permit. A USDA spokesman confirmed the group has an application pending.
What is really at issue here, O'Keane said, is that North State Rendering is trying to keep his collective out of the used-oil business, and what's worse, the county seems to be placing one business' profit over the public's need for clean air.
"They make a lot of money picking up grease," he said. "I think they're really threatened by what our business does."
North State Manager Chris Ottone would not comment on whether anyone from his company had talked to the district. He said he realized the collective's activities might siphon "a little bit" of grease from his company but claimed not to be threatened by it, adding that his only concern was that the collective follow the same rendering rules he has to.
"Whatever's legal, that's what they need to do. If they're doing everything by the law, it's a free country, what can I say?" "
article above found at;
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-12-16/enviro.asp
According to this article the people in the Chico area are experiencing a similar situation as Modesto with their tallow factory. The overall pollution is increased by this for profit centralized monopoly of used oils and animals. If biodiesel collectives could use this for an alternative fuelsource instead of more smoke up the chimminey of North State Rendering, we'ld all breathe a bit easier..
interview with chico biodiesel collective;
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-03-25/fifteen.asp
luna moth
People who wish to collect cooking oil for free from local restaurants are restricted from doing so by North State Rendering's hold on this resource. Restaurants owners are obligated to pay North State Rendering to remove their used cooking oil by this same cumbersome process. To say there is a series of obstacles in the licensing application process insurmountable by the average person sounds like a conspiracy, yet this is often the case of people challenging a monopoly of a corporation..
While North State Rendering claims to be environmentally friendly as a recycling business, they are in fact a for profit recycling monopoly. If only North State Rendering is able to contract with almost all the restaurants of the North State, they may be in violation of anti-trust laws..
Somehow NSR managed to get the Butte County Air Quality Management District involved to prevent a biodiesel collective from gaining access to the used veggie oil. The BCAQMD used their regulatory status to block the biodiesel collective from access to the oil. The lengthy licensing application process is the needed delay to discourage only the most determined biodiesel advocates from continuing on this path. If anything the biodiesel collective will cause less air pollution than NSR..
Article from the CN&R about North State Rendering;
"The Chico Biodiesel Collective is finding out just how valuable the stuff can be. Last summer, the collective received a $20,000 grant from the Butte County Air Quality Management District (BCAQMD) so it could continue educating people about and producing biodiesel, a clean-burning, renewable fuel made from used cooking oil. What the collective didn't initially know was that, by accepting donations of used fry grease from local restaurants, it was not only breaking the law, but also cutting into the profits of another local business.
That business, it turns out, seems to have had enough political clout to make the air quality district take back the grant money, leaving the small but feisty group with an expensive one-year lease on a new facility and a bunch of high-minded plans in limbo.
Collective leader Devin O'Keane said the air quality district rescinded the grant over the demands of North State Rendering, a local company that turns used cooking oil into poultry feed. North State charges restaurants to dispose of their grease, then processes it into feed and other products to sell at a profit.
When the company found out that O'Keane's hippie collective was trying to muscle in on its racket, it hit back, telling BCAQMD Air Quality Officer Jim Wagoner that the collective was operating illegally, lacking the necessary grease-rendering permits from the meat processing branch of the USDA. Wagoner confirmed that his office pulled the grant on the basis of information given to him by a representative of North State Rendering.
"Based on the information we were given, there are certain registrations you have to have to collect and transport this used restaurant grease, which the collective didn't have," he said.
Wagoner said that, after being contacted by North State, he realized that "we don't know that [the collective] will be able to secure all the licenses and registrations in a timely manner to carry out the grant." Upon further questioning, Wagoner admitted the district "could have dug a little deeper" before the grant was approved.
O'Keane said he was dumbfounded by the district's decision, especially since the grant proposal specifically stated that part of the grant money was to be used for obtaining the necessary licenses and permits. He said he had received a compliance warning--not a violation--from the USDA in July, and that he has since applied for a rendering permit. A USDA spokesman confirmed the group has an application pending.
What is really at issue here, O'Keane said, is that North State Rendering is trying to keep his collective out of the used-oil business, and what's worse, the county seems to be placing one business' profit over the public's need for clean air.
"They make a lot of money picking up grease," he said. "I think they're really threatened by what our business does."
North State Manager Chris Ottone would not comment on whether anyone from his company had talked to the district. He said he realized the collective's activities might siphon "a little bit" of grease from his company but claimed not to be threatened by it, adding that his only concern was that the collective follow the same rendering rules he has to.
"Whatever's legal, that's what they need to do. If they're doing everything by the law, it's a free country, what can I say?" "
article above found at;
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-12-16/enviro.asp
According to this article the people in the Chico area are experiencing a similar situation as Modesto with their tallow factory. The overall pollution is increased by this for profit centralized monopoly of used oils and animals. If biodiesel collectives could use this for an alternative fuelsource instead of more smoke up the chimminey of North State Rendering, we'ld all breathe a bit easier..
interview with chico biodiesel collective;
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-03-25/fifteen.asp
luna moth
In the north state, one corporation has a virtual monopoly on collecting used cooking oil from local restaurants. North State Rendering corporation collects used cooking oil from near Sacramanto north to the Oregon border. This is based on contracts with the local restaurants and a licensing application process that excludes people without the corporate clout of North State Rendering. NSR then converts the used veggie oil into animal feed products and resell for profit..
People who wish to collect cooking oil for free from local restaurants are restricted from doing so by North State Rendering's hold on this resource. Restaurants owners are obligated to pay North State Rendering to remove their used cooking oil by this same cumbersome process. To say there is a series of obstacles in the licensing application process insurmountable by the average person sounds like a conspiracy, yet this is often the case of people challenging a monopoly of a corporation..
While North State Rendering claims to be environmentally friendly as a recycling business, they are in fact a for profit recycling monopoly. If only North State Rendering is able to contract with almost all the restaurants of the North State, they may be in violation of anti-trust laws..
Somehow NSR managed to get the Butte County Air Quality Management District involved to prevent a biodiesel collective from gaining access to the used veggie oil. The BCAQMD used their regulatory status to block the biodiesel collective from access to the oil. The lengthy licensing application process is the needed delay to discourage only the most determined biodiesel advocates from continuing on this path. If anything the biodiesel collective will cause less air pollution than NSR..
Article from the CN&R about North State Rendering;
"The Chico Biodiesel Collective is finding out just how valuable the stuff can be. Last summer, the collective received a $20,000 grant from the Butte County Air Quality Management District (BCAQMD) so it could continue educating people about and producing biodiesel, a clean-burning, renewable fuel made from used cooking oil. What the collective didn't initially know was that, by accepting donations of used fry grease from local restaurants, it was not only breaking the law, but also cutting into the profits of another local business.
That business, it turns out, seems to have had enough political clout to make the air quality district take back the grant money, leaving the small but feisty group with an expensive one-year lease on a new facility and a bunch of high-minded plans in limbo.
Collective leader Devin O'Keane said the air quality district rescinded the grant over the demands of North State Rendering, a local company that turns used cooking oil into poultry feed. North State charges restaurants to dispose of their grease, then processes it into feed and other products to sell at a profit.
When the company found out that O'Keane's hippie collective was trying to muscle in on its racket, it hit back, telling BCAQMD Air Quality Officer Jim Wagoner that the collective was operating illegally, lacking the necessary grease-rendering permits from the meat processing branch of the USDA. Wagoner confirmed that his office pulled the grant on the basis of information given to him by a representative of North State Rendering.
"Based on the information we were given, there are certain registrations you have to have to collect and transport this used restaurant grease, which the collective didn't have," he said.
Wagoner said that, after being contacted by North State, he realized that "we don't know that [the collective] will be able to secure all the licenses and registrations in a timely manner to carry out the grant." Upon further questioning, Wagoner admitted the district "could have dug a little deeper" before the grant was approved.
O'Keane said he was dumbfounded by the district's decision, especially since the grant proposal specifically stated that part of the grant money was to be used for obtaining the necessary licenses and permits. He said he had received a compliance warning--not a violation--from the USDA in July, and that he has since applied for a rendering permit. A USDA spokesman confirmed the group has an application pending.
What is really at issue here, O'Keane said, is that North State Rendering is trying to keep his collective out of the used-oil business, and what's worse, the county seems to be placing one business' profit over the public's need for clean air.
"They make a lot of money picking up grease," he said. "I think they're really threatened by what our business does."
North State Manager Chris Ottone would not comment on whether anyone from his company had talked to the district. He said he realized the collective's activities might siphon "a little bit" of grease from his company but claimed not to be threatened by it, adding that his only concern was that the collective follow the same rendering rules he has to.
"Whatever's legal, that's what they need to do. If they're doing everything by the law, it's a free country, what can I say?" "
article above found at;
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-12-16/enviro.asp
According to this article the people in the Chico area are experiencing a similar situation as Modesto with their tallow factory. The overall pollution is increased by this for profit centralized monopoly of used oils and animals. If biodiesel collectives could use this for an alternative fuelsource instead of more smoke up the chimminey of North State Rendering, we'ld all breathe a bit easier..
interview with chico biodiesel collective;
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-03-25/fifteen.asp
luna moth
People who wish to collect cooking oil for free from local restaurants are restricted from doing so by North State Rendering's hold on this resource. Restaurants owners are obligated to pay North State Rendering to remove their used cooking oil by this same cumbersome process. To say there is a series of obstacles in the licensing application process insurmountable by the average person sounds like a conspiracy, yet this is often the case of people challenging a monopoly of a corporation..
While North State Rendering claims to be environmentally friendly as a recycling business, they are in fact a for profit recycling monopoly. If only North State Rendering is able to contract with almost all the restaurants of the North State, they may be in violation of anti-trust laws..
Somehow NSR managed to get the Butte County Air Quality Management District involved to prevent a biodiesel collective from gaining access to the used veggie oil. The BCAQMD used their regulatory status to block the biodiesel collective from access to the oil. The lengthy licensing application process is the needed delay to discourage only the most determined biodiesel advocates from continuing on this path. If anything the biodiesel collective will cause less air pollution than NSR..
Article from the CN&R about North State Rendering;
"The Chico Biodiesel Collective is finding out just how valuable the stuff can be. Last summer, the collective received a $20,000 grant from the Butte County Air Quality Management District (BCAQMD) so it could continue educating people about and producing biodiesel, a clean-burning, renewable fuel made from used cooking oil. What the collective didn't initially know was that, by accepting donations of used fry grease from local restaurants, it was not only breaking the law, but also cutting into the profits of another local business.
That business, it turns out, seems to have had enough political clout to make the air quality district take back the grant money, leaving the small but feisty group with an expensive one-year lease on a new facility and a bunch of high-minded plans in limbo.
Collective leader Devin O'Keane said the air quality district rescinded the grant over the demands of North State Rendering, a local company that turns used cooking oil into poultry feed. North State charges restaurants to dispose of their grease, then processes it into feed and other products to sell at a profit.
When the company found out that O'Keane's hippie collective was trying to muscle in on its racket, it hit back, telling BCAQMD Air Quality Officer Jim Wagoner that the collective was operating illegally, lacking the necessary grease-rendering permits from the meat processing branch of the USDA. Wagoner confirmed that his office pulled the grant on the basis of information given to him by a representative of North State Rendering.
"Based on the information we were given, there are certain registrations you have to have to collect and transport this used restaurant grease, which the collective didn't have," he said.
Wagoner said that, after being contacted by North State, he realized that "we don't know that [the collective] will be able to secure all the licenses and registrations in a timely manner to carry out the grant." Upon further questioning, Wagoner admitted the district "could have dug a little deeper" before the grant was approved.
O'Keane said he was dumbfounded by the district's decision, especially since the grant proposal specifically stated that part of the grant money was to be used for obtaining the necessary licenses and permits. He said he had received a compliance warning--not a violation--from the USDA in July, and that he has since applied for a rendering permit. A USDA spokesman confirmed the group has an application pending.
What is really at issue here, O'Keane said, is that North State Rendering is trying to keep his collective out of the used-oil business, and what's worse, the county seems to be placing one business' profit over the public's need for clean air.
"They make a lot of money picking up grease," he said. "I think they're really threatened by what our business does."
North State Manager Chris Ottone would not comment on whether anyone from his company had talked to the district. He said he realized the collective's activities might siphon "a little bit" of grease from his company but claimed not to be threatened by it, adding that his only concern was that the collective follow the same rendering rules he has to.
"Whatever's legal, that's what they need to do. If they're doing everything by the law, it's a free country, what can I say?" "
article above found at;
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-12-16/enviro.asp
According to this article the people in the Chico area are experiencing a similar situation as Modesto with their tallow factory. The overall pollution is increased by this for profit centralized monopoly of used oils and animals. If biodiesel collectives could use this for an alternative fuelsource instead of more smoke up the chimminey of North State Rendering, we'ld all breathe a bit easier..
interview with chico biodiesel collective;
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-03-25/fifteen.asp
luna moth
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