packing plant waste kills 10,000 sm. fish in Skippack Creek, may kill more

[donsu]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?cid=12897&cat=dis&lang=eng


About 10,000 dead fish, mostly minnows are floating along the Skippack Creek. The Department of Environmental Protection has traced the cause to the MOPAC Packing Plant in Franconia, Montgomery County. A DEP spokesperson says two pumps at the plant malfunctioned early morning Friday, releasing an unknown amount of untreated wastewater into the Skippack Creek.A DEP biologist was sent Friday to investigate and found the fishkill area to be about a mile long stretch of the Skippack Creek, from the Turnpike to School House Road.Roy Shade, whose home lies along the Skippack Creek, said he hasn't noticed anything different about the creek. Living at that location for almost 50 years has taught him to use your nose to figure out if there's a problem. "Normally, if there's a problem, there are odors and you become aware of it real soon. It smells like dead animals and sewage combined."The DEP says they will send a biologist out again Monday to determine how bad the damage is to the area. They say typically in situations like this, the company is fined, although they say they are still investigating the cause. Meanwhile, the Montgomery County Health Department and DEP are advising people stay out of that stretch of the Skippack Creek. The DEP noted that the fishkill could have moved downstream and to look out for scummy water, dead fish or anything that looks like raw sewage.Shade says he gets very worried because his young grandchildren like to play along the creek. "I always advise her to wash her hands. That concerns me more that anything that my granddaughter would get into some chemicals that would poison her."The DEP says this is the second time in a year that the MOPAC plant has caused a fishkill. The first one occurred last summer and killed about 600 fish.)
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this is in Penn.

does the packing plant get fined, wrist slapped, or nothing?

[Robbien]

1. Heh. With little or no fines, this sounds like it may not be an accident

Just a cost cutting measure to ensure the company's profits.

[kestrel91316]

2. Why isn't the packing waste being treated in a digester so it

can produce biogas to power electrical generation for the packing plant?

WHY???

Stupid, lazy business owners make me sick.