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The Grand Forks County Commission has been
grappling with a difficult issue: whether to allow sugar beet tailings
and pulp to be spread on a 140-acre plot of land north of Grand Forks.
Tom Brule, a Minnesota farmer who owns Thomas
Brule Trucking LLC, applied for a special-use permit so he could
deposit beet tailings and pulp on the land. Brule had permission from
the landowner, but he also needed an OK from the Grand Forks County
Commission.
In order for the special permit to be passed, the
commission has provided Brule with a list of restrictions. One of the
restrictions is that Brule would be able to dump tailings and pulp on
that site for only one year. If residents in the area had complaints,
Brule would not be able to use the site again.
The beet tailings and pulp are byproducts from
the American Crystal Sugar Co.'s sugar processing facility in East
Grand Forks. The company tries to sell all of the tailings and pulp
that it can, said Joel Smith, the manager of the Regulatory Affairs
Department at American Crystal.
"Most of the time we make it into pellets
and sell it as cattle feed," he said. "We have no interest
in just throwing this on the ground."
But the company is slicing more beets than it
formerly did, and there is always a fair amount of the tailings and
pulp to dispose of, he said.
Any pulp and tailings that cannot be made into
pellets or fed to livestock are spread on the ground in the winter and
tilled under the soil in the spring.
"The practice of dumping sugar beet pulp and
tailings on farmland isn't something brand new," said Morris
Davidson, Grand Forks County extension agent. "Farmers have been
using the beet processing byproducts to fertilize their fields for
many years. Ag waste products, and basically anything that we can
return to the soil in that way, are good."
But what is good for the land isn't always good
for the people who live there.
Horror
stories
Many of the residents who live near the site are
worried because they have heard horror stories about flies and odor in
other places where sugar beet waste has been dumped.
"It does create some concerns, and in some
ways it is probably legitimate because there could be some odor
associated with it and short-term insect problems," Davidson
said. "The people who are spreading the beet tailings need to use
some common sense."
Davidson said the odor and insect problems can be
greatly reduced if the material is tilled under right away in the
spring.
Residents, on the other hand, need to be
reasonable because of the importance of the sugar industry to the Red
River Valley, Davidson said.
"If we want the industry to continue, we as
a community need to figure out how to deal with these issues
positively," Davidson said. "There is a whole lot about
being a good neighbor involved in this thing."
Hence the difficult decision that has landed in
the laps of the Grand Forks County Commission.
Back and
forth
Initially, the Grand Forks Planning and Zoning
Commission recommended that the commission allow the permit. But the
County Commission, after listening to residents in the area who are
concerned about odor, flies and traffic, voted against granting the
permit.
That vote was followed by another vote to approve
the permit, after the commission heard testimony from area cattle
producers who were afraid they would no longer be able to have
tailings and pulp delivered to them for use as cattle feed.
That vote was followed by a special meeting, at
which the special-use permit was tabled until the next regular
commission meeting, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday in the
County Office Building.
Rules and
Regulations
One of the issues that residents who are against
the special-use permit bring up is that there are no regulations
regarding the spreading of sugar beet pulp and tailings on farmland.
According to Steve Tillotson, assistant director
of the Division of Waste Management for the North Dakota Health
Department, there are not only rules and regulations, but there are
also inspections.
The sugar beet companies -- in this case American
Crystal -- need to have an approved nutrient management plan,
Tillotson said.
"We have an approved nutrient management
plan with Crystal; they can use it (sugar beet tailings and pulp) for
cattle feed or for land application as fertilizer," he said.
"But they can't cause any water pollution, significant odor or
attract a large number of flies."
Tillotson said he can't recall any complaints
that his office has received about Crystal.
"We have a contract with those people who
haul it for us; they must follow these rules and regulations,"
Smith said. "And along with that, the company has written up a
fairly detailed plan that it must follow about how it must dispose of
the waste products."
In case of a problem, whoever is disposing of the
beet byproducts is required to report it to the company.
American Crystal also does inspections to make
sure the people they contract with are doing a good job.
"Mr. Brule is doing a very good job with his
sites in Minnesota," Smith said.
Not in my
back yard
But residents aren't convinced that the sugar
beet tailings and pulp won't smell or attract flies.
Wally Helland, environmental health supervisor
for the Grand Forks Public Health Department, which serves both the
city and the county, sent a letter to the county Planning and Zoning
Commission recommending that the commission not approve Brule's
special-use permit because of the potential for odor and fly problems.
"I don't blame the residents for being
concerned," Helland said. "And I'm not saying the guy
wouldn't do a good job."
Helland said he's had experience with potatoes
dumped in the countryside that create odor problems. "So we know
the potential is there," he said.
But, he said, his office abides by whatever the
commission decides.
Residents are also concerned because there will
be an increase in truck traffic near their homes, and they fear for
their children's safety. |