Pleasant Hope Missouri

05/04/2024

John Hoke, director of the Water Protection Program with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, is denying knowledge of Missouri Prime Beef Packers spreading industrial wastewater on the neighboring property in images and videos from this page.

Despite the fact that there's a KY3 news story with videos of MPBP trucks on this field, despite several neighbors contacting MoDNR repeatedly, sending pictures, videos, and more - despite everything, he's trying to sweep this under the rug.

This may be worse than anyone expected.

I contacted my insurance company's PAC and had several conversations with one of their directors. He then got in contact with John Hoke from MoDNR who sent him this email:

"Thanks. The regional office informs me that address is the [redacted] property, which Missouri Prime Beef cannot use for land application. They have not observed any land application on that property, but did remark they would expect multiple calls if it did occur. The locals are quite active in reporting when Missouri Prime Beef land applies and has trucks running. If your member observes land application occurring on that property, please have them call in to the southwest regional office at 417-891-4300 or send an email to [email protected] which routes to the main WPP office here in Jefferson City and we distribute back to the regions.
Hope that helps. I appreciate the questions and opportunity to provide information!
John Hoke, Director
Water Protection Program
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
O: 573-522-9912; M: 573-508-2287"

Here's my open letter to John Hoke. Feel free to comment on it, or write in to DNR (don't call, leave an evidence trail). https://greedysh*te.com/open-letter-to-john-hoke-director-of-the-water-protection-program-missouri-department-of-natural-resources-mo-dnr/

I've emailed John Hoke and others to comment, though I don't expect them to do so publicly (likely not privately either).

The good news is that if MPBP opens back up, this field is off-limits now. The bad news is we don't know why this sudden backtrack - have they done new testing? What do they know that we don't?

From May 2023 to December 2023, then throughout February 2024, the property referred to in John Hoke's email below was "fertilized" with industrial wastewater

04/05/2024

Missouri Prime Beef operated without a permit throughout the last 6 months of 2023, after the Missouri Fertilizer Board refused to allow this free, inadequately tested "product" to continue running under their fertilizer permits. Up to 27 trucks would dump industrial waste in a single 30-acre field in one day (trucks carry approx. 4,000 gallons), typically running 7 days per week.

Twenty-five known fields receiving wastewater were later disclosed in the Abatement Order on Consent in January 2024, but it's unknown how many total properties received this "fertilizer." Neither this 30-acre field nor the quarry receiving industrial wastewater were listed on the AOC, leaving people to question - how many properties were receiving industrial wastewater?

Here's the truck schedule for a random day in 2024, after the AOC was signed. There were 19 trucks on this day, low to average for most of 2023 (6 months) but a bit high for 2024 (1 month). Erring on the side of caution and lower numbers, this calculation estimates that MPBP applied 130% of what they should have over a year's time - in 7 months - actual numbers would show even higher. This is just one of many DNR violations on this field - what happened on the other fields or in that quarry? Are we supposed to believe that everything was legit on every other property, that they didn't "forget" to log truckloads or cut corners? That cows weren't left on other fields and effluent spread too close to other wells?

04/01/2024

New video on nuisance and harassment received by neighbors from Missouri Prime Beef truckers and farmers receiving their "fertilizer" (deemed by MO DNR to be "industrial wastewater"). This happened for 7 out of 9 months from 2023-2024, and will start again if Missouri Prime Beef reopens. The video of the farmer in the tractor going onto SOMEONE ELSE'S property to intimidate neighbors is mine, so this is personal.

In 2019, after 17 years of living in the city, I was finally able to buy a quiet little patch of land. It was a little over 7 acres and was perfect for my s...

03/24/2024

This spreadsheet shows testing from April 2023 on Missouri Prime Beef lagoons (white columns) compared to testing from a company that recycles their water (blue columns). Recycling would save 350,000 gallons of water daily from being pulled from aquifers under Missouri Prime Beef, and would eliminate the need for land application.

The green columns show tests that I personally pulled from my pond and from the ditch to the neighboring property that received MPB wastewater. Notice that the ditch sample has no discernible nutrients, but total coliform limits are above testing limits - meaning it could be 10 times the number shown.

03/10/2024

DNR regulations don't allow grazing cattle on fields within 14 days of spreading industrial wastewater. Seems reasonable. Yet some landowners in Pleasant Hope allowed cattle to graze while trucks were actively spreading meat packing wastewater. The companies and persons paid to dispose of industrial wastewater from Missouri Prime Beef kept spreading on those fields, with cattle present, despite DNR regulations.

DNR is finally cracking down on landowners, and having them remove cattle from these fields. However, cattle grazed contaminated fields for 6 months before this crackdown, and some of these landowners are actively advertising their cattle on local Pleasant Hope community groups as local beef available for neighbors to purchase.

Mad cow disease is spread through cerebrospinal fluid - a likely component of meat plant wastewater. Missouri Prime Beef wastewater contains manure and tests high in E. Coli - is this safe for meat cattle to ingest? DNR regulations require a 14 day rest period between application and grazing, so likely not.

Is this a public health crisis in the making?

With Missouri Cattlemen's Association, Missouri Prime Beef Packers, Mike Parson, City of Pleasant Hope, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Missouri Department of Natural Resources

03/10/2024

This was shared to "What's Happening in Vernon County" - but was denied approval. If you know anyone in Vernon County, MO please share this with them:

Residents of Polk County have been dealing with contaminated wells and pollution to both land and running water due to effluent discharge from a meat packing plant. On top of environmental damage, there's nuisance issues with both smell, traffic, and even harrasment by drivers. One of the companies responsible has now applied for a DNR permit to spread human waste on land in Vernon County.

You have until March 25, 2024 to voice your concerns on this issue. You can find a link to the permit application and contact info for DNR here: https://dnr.mo.gov/calendar/event/251941

Please look into PFAS pollution in Maine and Michigan due to human sludge spreading - that is what's coming to your local farming community.

Reed Environmental LLC applied for authorization to either discharge to waters of the state, or to operate a no-discharge wastewater treatment facility.

03/10/2024

Missouri Prime Beef was bought by STX Beef in May, 2023. This plant has had issues with pollution under past owners, but when the plant expanded in 2021 (after being closed for several years) things took a turn for the worse. Instead of expanding the wastewater treatment facility to meet the demand of the expansion, it was decided to dump effluent - filled with manure, body parts, and chemicals - onto neighboring farmland.

Neighbors to these landowners experienced constant traffic up to 7 days per week, the constant smell of death, wells next to these properties and Missouri Prime Beef testing positive, DNR violations (including spreading too close to wells - the same wells that tested positive for coliform - but they swear it's not their fault), and both online and offline harrassment and threats have been a part of neighbors lives. This wasn't just the normal 2 weeks per year to fertilize a field - this was happening all year except for 2 months during winter.

City council members, city workers from Pleasant Hope, truckers, and employees of Missouri Prime Beef have all played a part in online harassment, and several threatening messages have been sent to members of local groups trying to put a stop to these violations. The community has split in half, and once friendly neighbors are no longer friendly (some seem downright dangerous).

THIS IS A PROBLEM FOR EVERYONE IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI. Other companies are also spreading effluent, some with human waste and other industrial wastewater - and it's coming from other states that no longer allow spreading these "fertilizers" due to oversaturation of nutrients and pollutants (Arkansas being the main source). If you're in southern Missouri, it's coming for you.

FOR PEOPLE IN THE SPRINGFIELD MO AREA, Pomme de Terre lake is likely a future source of water for the city of Springfield. Any effluent that drains into Wilson's Creek eventually makes its way into Pomme de Terre lake. This lake used to be a thriving area for tourism, parks, and swimming, but for the last 2 years has been closed to swimmers due to pollutants (which coincides with the date the plant opened back up).

If you want to be kept up to date on these issues, follow this page and our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/-xe2ni