NEBRASKA CITY – Nebraska City citizens spoke at Monday’s city council meeting asking commissioners to help bring an end to a foul odor linked to the Cargill Meat Solutions plant.

Following public testimony that included citizen concerns about health and the loss of enjoyment of their properties, Mayor Bryan Bequette said the city will explore the value of making a formal complaint to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

City Administrator Lou Leone read a letter from Cargill regarding its efforts to recharge bacterial life in its treatment lagoons that was damaged when the company ramped up use of disinfectants to keep workers safe during an outbreak of the coronavirus.

Nearby resident Shelly Stuhr said citizens have been patient, but said Cargill needs to hear the message that “time is up.”

Stuhr: “This can’t be good for us. It’s coming into our home via our furnaces. As you can see I was going through chemo here, waking up in the middle of the night very nauseated, wanting to vomit because of the smell coming into my home. That is not acceptable in this beautiful community.”

Rick and Debbie Shallenberger say the odor has been a problem for four years or more.

Shallenberger: “It is not getting better. It is getting worse.”

Rick Shallenberger: “I’ve got to keep my doors closed and run my airconditoning to try and filter that stink out of there. Everybody gives me the excuse that it is coming down the sewer line and they can’t flush that out. It’s not that. It’s in the air.”

 

Stuhr said it’s not fair to trap people inside their homes in desperation to escape the stink and said it can’t be good for tourism, when the stench is the first thing that greets visitors.

Stuhr: “We want them here because they are providing jobs, but they’ve got to be held accountable for what they are doing.This has gone on well over a year. It’s time as a city that we stand and put our foot down and say enough is enough.”

 

 

Jan James of Nebraska City said the repulsion to the odor is the body’s signal that the air is unhealthy.

James: “I don’t trust them. I simply do not trust them. It’s greed. They are playing our health, all of our health and our kids’ health and our animals’ health against the money that they are making.”

 

 

Lynn Heng asked the council to consider filing a formal complaint with the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Utilities Manager Jeff Kohrs said sampling data is gathered regularly on water coming to the wastewater treatment facility. The city is not aware of any violations.

 Leone said Cargill is doing more than a typical lagoon operator and said the recently installed waste water clarifier will provide benefits over the next nine months. He said an air mister is scheduled to be online by the end of the month.

City Attorney Drew Graham said the state regulates the air quality so the city’s only recourse would be to have the police issue  a citation for a nuisance. A citation could be prosecuted through the court system, but Graham said it would likely end with additional time for Cargill to remedy the nuisance, which they are already working at.

Mayor Bequette thanked citizens for coming to the meeting and expressing their concerns.

He said the city will follow up to see if a formal complaint to the DEQ can be made.

Michelle Jorgenson said she put in the request to be on the agenda and all the people just showed up.

Jorgenson: “Nobody is happy with it. Nobody is happy with the smell, even the mayor.”

Here is a letter sent to the city from Cargill