PUBLIC TO ADDRESS COUNCIL TONIGHT REGARDING DAKOTA PROTEIN SOLUTIONS
The public is expected to address the Freeman City Council tonight about concerns over the odor coming from Dakota Protein Solutions, the rendering plant that opened a mile southeast of Freeman last September.
The agenda for the council’s Aug. 5 meeting shows a discussion about Dakota Protein Solutions and public input at the start of the 6:30 p.m. meeting. Those speaking are each limited to three minutes, according to the agenda.
All Freeman City Council meetings are livestreamed; here’s a link.
Distain with the odor coming from the rendering plant has been an ongoing presence on Facebook the past few months, with multiple Freeman residents airing their grievances publicly. Concerns have ranged from business and residents leaving town, the impact on public outdoor events, individuals not being able to enjoy summer evenings and the reputation it is having on the community.
Dakota Protein Solutions has acknowledged the problem.
“It’s not acceptable to us, it’s not how it was meant to be and it’s not how it’s going to be,” Dan Heiman, former general manager of Dakota Protein Solutions, told the Mitchell Republic in April — a comment that was included in a story written by Jennifer Leither and published by the Republic on June 26.
And Dakota Protein Solutions addressed the issue with the Freeman City Council last fall, according to Leither’s reporting, apologizing for the odor and blaming issues with the air scrubber chemistry and ventilation.
“We are actively working on this,” read a letter to the city issued by Dakota Protein Solution. “This challenge has been a combination of items, including air ventilation physics as well as utilization of the correct chemistry cascading through the air scrubber to neutralize the odor.”
Here’s more from the Mitchell Republic’s story.
But residents say little has improved. Many now view the plant as a breach of trust and a burden on quality of life.
“It needs to be shut down until they can deliver what was promised,” said Larry Timmerman, a nearby landowner and outspoken critic. “They’re on their third company trying to fix the smell. Clearly, they didn’t know what they were doing in the first place.”
Timmerman claims he can smell the plant from two miles away while walking his fields. The odor, described by multiple residents as a mix of “dead animal and cooked rotting flesh,” is considered worse than what came from the smaller facility previously on the site.
Repeated inquiries from the Mitchell Republic to Freeman Mayor Michael Walter and new DPS director Roger Walker went unanswered. Project co-founder Scott Stern also declined to comment, referring questions to Walker.
