Members of a duck club adjacent to a proposed tallow transfer station are voicing their opposition to the project. Ron DePauw, president of the Newman Land and Cattle Company, said members are concerned about potential water and air quality impacts on the 1,700-acre club.

City officials in Gustine, which is downwind from the project site, also confirmed that they are closely watching the proposal and will be involved to ensure that all environmental concerns are addressed.

San Jose Tallow is seeking a conditional use permit to establish a transfer station across Santa Fe Grade Road from a meat packing plant owned by Petaluma Livestock (which is not currently operating), just south of Bella Vista Park. Merced County has determined that an environmental review is needed for the project, according to spokesperson Katie Albertson. That review will take at least six months, according to county officials. Public hearings will follow.

Lee Mueller, Central Valley manager for San Jose Tallow, said the transfer station would allow the company to consolidate small loads of animal materials into larger truckloads for delivery to processing facilities. Some reduction of animal carcasses and materials would occur at the site, Mueller said, but he emphasized that there will be no rendering operations.

He also stressed that the company has no current plans to build a processing plant – but did not rule out that possibility in the future.

“We have no plans, and have never had any intent for a full-blown rendering plant at that location,” Mueller told Mattos Newspapers. “That is not proposed for the future at this point. That doesn’t mean it won’t come up.”

Mueller also contends that the transfer station can operate free of odor and without jeopardizing the water of surrounding properties.

Members of the adjacent Newman Land and Cattle Company are not convinced.

The 1,700-acre duck club filed preliminary comments saying it “vehemently” opposes issuance of a permit for the transfer station, saying the wildlife habitat the club has diligently worked to preserve could be impacted by air pollution, truck traffic and possible water contamination from the facility.

Ron DePauw, president of the duck club, said lack of tangible information about exactly what is being proposed is only fueling the members’ concerns.

“Our concern is that they are able to keep the water on site. That is a major issue, as well as any odors, of course. Is it going to be something we can live with?” DePauw questioned. “Even a transfer station is an (odor) concern. We have 29 houses out there at the club, and three or four people living there. We have a lot invested in our club, in time and in pride.”

DePauw questioned whether the company would be able to effectively control odor – even from a transfer station.

“With the wind direction, it is going to go right at Gustine,” he commented. “With what happened in Newman with Tartaric, I don’t know how they would even consider that as a good idea.”

Mueller, however, refuted those concerns.

He said the transfer station would primarily handle butcher scraps collected from throughout the region, although some carcasses would be handled as well.

“Whatever materials come in leave the same day. If you don’t have any materials there, there is nothing to smell,” Mueller stated, adding that trucks are washed daily. “We have been parking our trucks (at the meat packing property) for over a year, and I don’t think there was one complaint in that time.”

Currently, he added, no transfer of materials takes place.

Mueller also addressed water concerns, saying a transfer station would be designed to retain any water on site.

As far as truck traffic, he added, a transfer station might actually result in fewer trips than are now experienced.

In addition to animal materials, the transfer station would handle used cooking oil.

Mueller said the company had approached the city of Newman about possibly using the former Tartaric location but was rebuffed. That would have been perfect,” he said.

City Manager Michael Holland said he did not recall overtures by the company, but said the city would not have supported a tallow transfer station at that location.

Gustine officials will closely monitor the application and will have input into the process, said City Manager Margaret Silveira.

“It is just outside of our sphere of influence, and would concern me environmentally,” she commented.

Merced County Supervisor Deidre Kelsey cautioned that the project is still in its infancy.

“The project is not even defined at this point. The scope of the environmental issues has not been defined either,” she pointed out. “There will be appropriate environmental review and the opportunity for the public to know what is going on before any decisions at all are made.”

Mueller noted that the tallow industry provides a critical service to California. “We are recyclers. That is what we do,” he commented. “It is beneficial to the community to get this picked up and gone.”

The closure of Modesto Tallow created a shortfall in rendering capacity, he added.

Despite the need for additional rendering facilities, Mueller said, the industry faces opposition to new plants.

“The political winds would have to change in the state of California (before new plants could be built, at any location),” he commented. “Even though it is a critical need, you have a ‘not in my backyard’ approach to it.”