Idaho Falls meat packaging plant says “stinky situation” could be coming to an end

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - People in Idaho Falls continue to ask, "where is the smell coming from" around the Intermountain Packing plant and "is there anything that can be done about it?"

The discussion continues in a wave of online questions surrounding the new meat packing plant.

According to Eric Grossarth of the City of Idaho Falls, they have added new filters inside the manholes downstream of the plant along Iona Road to help mitigate the issue. But the smell persists.

However, change could be in the air.

On Monday, plant engineer Paul Greenwood said they are in contract negotiations with the Bonneville County landfill to dump there.

For the last year, the plant didn't have approval to dump within county limits which meant all solid waste had to be stored for days on end before being shipped to the Magic Valley.

"We've been able to I guess we've been able to to produce the sludge in the form that's acceptable by the EPA," Greenwood said.

"The county had some concerns and questions as to how to verify that, and they've rejected a bunch of our loads that we thought met the requirement. But they had concerns and questions on it. I think we've been able to figure out what those concerns are and get those results from their side."

Local News 8 has reached out to the county commissioners office to confirm this information and ask why the plant was asked not to dump solid waste in the landfill as long as they were.

Monday afternoon we received word back from Roger Christensen.

"Being inside the city limits of Idaho Falls, intermountain packing made their application to the city of Idaho Falls for approval of their plant. 

"No request was made by either intermountain packing or city of Idaho Falls for the disposal of solid waste into the Bonneville County landfill at that time, which waste is regulated by EPA..."

"...Once Bonneville County was aware of the waste intermountain had to dispose of, work began on developing a permit that would allow their industrial waste and provide compliance with current epa regulations."

Christensen told Local News 8 a permit application process was adopted by the Bonneville County commissioners on Jan 17, 2024, and shortly thereafter was sent to Intermountain. 

He said the Bonneville County has not received a permit back from Intermountain Packing at this time.

Greenwood remains optimistic the problem could be solved within a few weeks.