Clean Delaware Inc. has filed for a permit amendment seeking to haul industrial wastewater to Allen Harim’s Harbeson wastewater plant.

Under the amendment, Clean Delaware would haul nonhazardous waste from Allen Harim’s Millsboro deboning operation to Allen Harim’s wastewater treatment plant in Harbeson. Clean Delaware has also applied for an amendment to transport nonhazardous liquid waste to the Delaware County Regional Water Authority in Chester, Penn. Similar permit amendments are also under review for Denali Waste Services and Clark Environmental Services to haul sludge and wastewater from the Millsboro deboning facility.

Clean Delaware General Manager Gerry Desmond said his company would be a secondary hauler available should anything happen to primary haulers Denali and Clark.

“It’s a pretty simple request,” he said. “We have a good working relationship with them.”



Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control spokeswoman Carol Riggs said non-hazardous liquid waste could include raw or treated wastewater. While the permit covers transportation, it does not regulate treatment or disposal.

“The disposal facilities a regulated under separate regulations, not the transportation permit,” Riggs said.

Representatives from Allen Harim did not respond to a requests for comment.

Desmond said the amendment to haul to Pennsylvania is specifically for nonhazardous waste; Clean Delaware already has a haulers permit to take other forms of waste there, but not wastewater.



Allen Harim plans to use 50,000 square feet of its newly opened 450,000 square foot Millsboro facility - located at the former Vlasic pickle plant - for deboning, packaging and shipping 2 million pounds of chicken per week. In May, Allen Harim was granted a special-use exemption from Sussex County Board of Adjustment for the deboning facility.

To go with the new facility, Allen Harim would build a spray irrigation system at the Millsboro site. Until that system is up and running, Allen Harim plans to truck 40,000 gallons of treated wastewater per day to the Harbeson plant for disposal, requiring five to six trucks per day.

Approval of the deboning operation has been contested in court by citizens group Protecting Our Indian River.

Attorney Andrea Green, who represents Protecting Our Indian River, said, “There is already a pending application at DNREC from Denali Water Solutions to haul the poultry wastewater from Allen Harim in Millsboro to its Harbeson facility. It almost seems like a shell game. Moving the polluted water around eastern Sussex County.”

She said anything hauled to Allen Harim’s Harbeson plant would get processed and discharged into Beaverdam Creek and would have to meet the requirements of Allen Harim’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.

Allen Harim is planning to pump wastewater to Artesian Water Company’s Northern Sussex Regional Water Recharge Facility off Route 16 outside of Milton. Although Artesian is moving ahead constructing the facility, its operating permit is being challenged by citizens group Keep Our Wells Clean, which was granted standing in June to appeal the permit before the state’s Environmental Appeals Board. A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 9, in Dover.