Carthage plant under court order

The agreement and consent order, in response to a public nuisance lawsuit filed by Nixon and the city of Carthage in April, was announced May 6.

The suit said that the RES processing facility and operations associated with waste storage and handling caused odors that “unreasonably interfere with the use of enjoyment of private and public property.” The odors “smelled like rotting or burned meat and chlorine,” according to a press release from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

Under the consent order and agreement, RES was to begin installation of an internal thermal oxidizer by May 9.

“Hopefully, this will put an end to a nearly yearlong problem that the people of Carthage were forced to endure,” Nixon said in a news release.

“RES has agreed to take whatever measures are necessary to remedy this situation, and we will be watching closely to make sure they do.”

RES, a joint venture of Changing World Technologies and Con-Agra Foods, operates a plant at 530 N. Main St. in Carthage that utilizes a thermal conversion process to convert agricultural and animal wastes to oil, gas, minerals and fertilizer. Much of the waste comes from Con-Agra’s turkey processing facility in Carthage.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is working with RES to expedite the upgrades.