Northampton Board seeking DEQ information session on poultry plant biosolids

The Northampton County Board of Supervisors approved a letter at Tuesday night’s board meeting to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) urging the regulatory body to hold a public hearing on the proposed land application of biosolids in parts of the county, citing widespread concern among local farmers and aquaculture producers.

The discussion arose after Tyson Foods in Temperanceville advertised permit renewals to apply biosolids, treated byproducts from poultry processing, to agricultural land in Accomack and Northampton Counties. The material, generated from wastewater lagoons which treat water at the processing facilities, is periodically removed from the lagoon bottoms, treated, and injected into the soil as a soil conditioner and fertilizer substitute.

Board Chairman John Coker said at Tuesday night’s meeting that members of the Eastern Shore’s aquaculture industry are opposed to any such actions. Several growers and the Virginia Aquaculture Association submitted letters warning that any biosolid application could jeopardize the region’s shellfish operations if runoff were to affect local waterways. Association representatives noted that the FDA frequently tests shellfish from both local waters and grocery store shelves, and even the perception of contamination could cause economic harm.

Supervisor Dixon Leatherbury, who has spent his working life in and around the agricultural industry, acknowledged that DEQ maintains strict guidelines for biosolid application, including setback requirements from wells, waterways, and property lines. The activity has been approved before, and this was simply the renewal application. He stressed the need for greater transparency and public understanding. The letter drafted by County Attorney Ellen Bowyer asks DEQ to convene a public hearing so residents can learn more about the material’s composition, treatment, and safety standards.

Leatherbury also reported that most of the Northampton farmers contacted expressed no interest in participating, with only one indicating he “didn’t want to close that door.”

Of roughly 3,800 acres covered by the current application, only a few hundred lie in Northampton County. Still, the Board voted unanimously to send the letter to DEQ and to copy Accomack County on the correspondence.