COLUMBUS -- Neighbors expressed tentative relief over the state's decision to shut down Buckeye Egg Farm, even as some worried about the economic impact.
"It's never good to see an economic negative," Chuck Diveldiss, who lives just up the road from the company's Croton facility, said Tuesday. "It would have been my desire to have a responsible, viable business of some sort, and I hope something can replace it."
The state on Tuesday ordered Buckeye Egg Farm, Ohio's largest egg producer and a longtime source of environmental complaints, to permanently shut down.
Agriculture Director Fred Dailey ordered the company to begin closing its 90 remaining barns within 20 business days. Buckeye Egg, which is trying to sell its farms, said it would appeal.
"The pollution and nuisance problems caused by this farm during the last decade were intolerable," Dailey said. "The sad legacy of mismanagement of Buckeye Egg Farm is rapidly coming to an end."
The company began operating in Ohio in 1982. Neighbors of the farms have complained for years about foul odors, insect and rodent infestations and creeks polluted by manure runoff.
Dailey first announced the department's intention to revoke the permits one year ago, saying the company had consistently failed to meet the requirements of its operating permits.
A hearing officer hired by the department ruled last month that Buckeye Egg Farm should lose its permits for not complying with environmental requirements. For example, the report cited examples of illegal releases of egg wash water and water polluted by manure at all of the company's facilities.
Buckeye Egg is the state's largest egg producer, and produces 4 percent of the nation's eggs -- 2.6 billion last year. It has about 120 barns at four sites, with about 14.8 million laying hens or chicks. Thirty of the barns, at the Croton site in Licking County, about 40 miles east of Columbus, were previously closed.
After complaints were raised, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which at the time oversaw the operation of "megafarms," took Buckeye Egg to court. The company was found in contempt of agreements it reached with the state.
Dailey said the company must begin closing two barns a week beginning with the Marseilles facilities in northern Ohio's Wyandot County. The Croton farms -- Buckeye Egg's original site -- must shut down next, followed by its Goshen and Mount Victory barns in Hardin County.
The order requires the company to close all barns by June 2004 and remove all manure by September 2004. It also must remove all birds from barns, clean and remove feed from feed bins and feed conveyor lines and drain all water lines and shut off all water service.
The company has 30 days to appeal Dailey's order to the state's Environmental Review Appeals Commission.
The company said it would appeal immediately. It said the closing would have a "negative impact" on the state economy.
"We have demonstrated our ability to operate effectively in recent months and believe that allowing new owners to purchase and operate our farms is a more practical approach," the company said in a statement.
Dailey also acknowledged the economic effect. "I am disappointed that this closure will likely cost jobs and income for many family farmers and other residents of rural central Ohio," he said.
Buckeye Egg is negotiating with two companies about selling the farms. A subsidiary of Japan-based ISE Farms has shown an interest in the northwest Ohio farms, while a company called Ohio Fresh Eggs is interested in the Croton site.
The order does not prohibit the company from selling its farms, said Deb Abbott, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture's livestock environmental permitting program.
Robert Bear, who lives about 1,500 feet from the Marseilles barns, welcomed the news but worried that things will be just as bad if another company buys the business.
"It's just so big I'm not sure anybody can operate it properly," said Bear, 67.
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