Posted on 12/12/2004 12:58:01 PM PST by MississippiMasterpiece
SHELBY, Mont. (AP) -The Canadian operator of a Montana horse feedlot must extinguish a large manure fire that sends a stench over Shelby, the state Department of Environmental Quality said.
Toole County officials have received a rash of air-quality complaints since wind-driven smoke began rolling off the manure pile, one-half the length of a football field, Dec. 3.
"It'll come into town here with a real pungent odour," said Dan Whitted, chief of the Shelby Volunteer Fire Department.
"It's very annoying."
Spontaneous combustion started the fire at the Bar S feedlot, which is along U.S. 2 just outside the Shelby city limits. A feedlot employee who declined to give his name said Friday it has just over 1,500 horses.
"What happened was a completely unexpected situation," said Claude Bouvry of Bouvry Exports, the Calgary owner of the operation.
He said the company is doing "all we can" to resolve the problem but declined to explain specifically how the manure will be cleaned up. Left unattended, the fire could burn for a year or more, Whitted said.
"You could put thousands of gallons of water on this thing and it wouldn't do any good," he said.
"It wouldn't put it out." Furthermore, water is not an option because of environmental concerns about contaminated runoff, he said.
Whitted and Toole County Commissioner Allan Underdal said the only solution is to use heavy equipment to break up and spread out the pile, much like extinguishing a campfire. Because there is no room to spread the manure at the site, the material probably would have to be taken away on trucks equipped to transport the material without spreading sparks.
DEQ sent Bar S a violation letter Thursday, requesting within a day of receiving the letter, the feedlot operator call and confirm the fire was extinguished. DEQ enforcement specialist Autumn Bahr acknowledged Friday compliance with the deadline is unlikely.
If the fire is not out within a week, then DEQ will look into formal enforcement action, Bahr said. Burning manure violates the state clean-air law.
DEQ said it wants to see a plan, within 30 days, for preventing future manure fires at the feedlot.
Last year Bouvry Exports pleaded guilty to five counts of animal cruelty stemming from negligent conditions after a June 2002 rainstorm. Montana livestock inspectors found 35 to 40 dead horses rotting in up to one metre of wet manure.
Horses are trucked to a slaughterhouse in Fort Macleod, Alta. The meat is flown overseas and what remains is used to make feed, fertilizer, baseballs and other products.
The feedlot operates under terms of a two-year probation imposed as a part of a plea agreement in the animal cruelty case. The probation requires the feedlot meet standards of the Montana Department of Livestock, promptly correct any problems identified by inspectors and not violate state livestock laws.
What about accelerating the fire by, say, dumping saltpeter in it (or blowing oxygen - but it is more expensive). The sooner it burns out, the better, and the more intense the fire, the fewer smelly things escape unburned.
If you follow US 1 to it's northern end in Fort Kent ME, there's a few paper mills just across the bridge in Canada blasting away the air pollution.
Or try Charleston, down in Penobscot county; since the place is half dairy farms and half off-brand churches, that fire'll slide right under the prevailing odor of sanctity.
Solution: It is hereby declared that all Shelby residents
are required to rub a little Ben-Gay (Menthol and Methyl-
Salicylate, Methyl-Salicylate and Menthol) under their
noses to defend against foul odors.
Oops... Sorry... not Ben-Gay... Ben-AlternateLifeStyle !!! ;-))
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