For anyone else who was curious about the drone photographing an environmental violation, here's the denouement and the company's side of the story. In short, t

For anyone else who was curious about the drone photographing an environmental violation, here's the denouement and the company's side of the story. In short, the Ondruseks state that an unmaintained government-controlled sewer pipe was responsible for the leak. Your reaction to this story will depend on whether you believe businessmen are mustache-twirlers who pollute rivers...or whether you believe that the kind of government that leaves potholes unfilled for years might jump into action to shift blame and point fingers rather than accept responsibility. From my POV, there doesn't seem to be much motive to intentionally dumping blood into a river rather than down a sewer line, so I kind of think the Ondruseks might be telling the truth. http://www.suasnews.com/2012/12/20401/columbia-packing-co-indicted-for-pigs-blood-in-trinity-river/ http://www.suasnews.com/2012/12/20401/columbia-packing-co-in... A Dallas County grand jury returned several indictments on Wednesday against an Oak Cliff meat packing company accused of dumping animal blood in a creek that flows into the Trinity River. Columbia Packing Company and its owner, Joe Ondrusek, face twelve indictments for water pollution. If found guilty, the company could pay fines between $6,000 and $1.5 million. Ondrusek himself could get five years in prison and fined up to $100,000 for each count. The grand jury also found evidence that the company, Joe Ondrusek and family member Donny Ondrusek tampered with physical evidence and returned six counts against them. The company could face more fines, and the Ondruseks could face up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 for each charge. Neighbors near the plant on 11th Street had long complained about noxious fumes and other problems from the meat packers. But investigators didn’t get involved until a remote-controlled toy enthusiast happened to affix a video camera to an RC aircraft and videotape gallons of what appeared to be blood gushing down the river. Officials from the Dallas County Health Department, Texas Environmental Crimes Task Force, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Environmental Protection Agency took photos and tested emissions. Weeks of investigation found the plant discharged pigs’ blood into Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River. In January 2012, the company issued a statement saying it would never knowingly pollute the environment. The plant shut down operations a few months later. http://keranews.org/post/oak-cliff-columbia-packing-tells-pig-blood-story-youtube http://keranews.org/post/oak-cliff-columbia-packing-tells-pi... WHAT HAPPENED On Thursday, January 19, 2012, approximately 50 individuals from various governmental agencies executed a search warrant at our plant. The search warrant accused Columbia Packing of intentionally dumping waste into the creek located a couple of hundred yards behind our plant. Let me be very clear: Columbia Packing did not and has not intentionally or knowingly polluted or illegally dumped hazardous materials. Our sewer line ties into a City of Dallas sewer main. It does NOT dump into the creek as has been alleged. There was a clog in the sewer line near a cleanout valve. When water was used (i.e. washing down after production), the sewer line was backing up causing water to come out an overflow/vent pipe. The city of Dallas apparently knew there was a problem on December 9th, but allowed it to continue and did not notify us until 41 days later when government agencies served search warrants. Two days before the warrants were served, a Columbia lawn mowing crew discovered the sewer overflow. We immediately called a plumber and took swift action to begin stopping the overflow. The clog was cleared and the line was open and running cleanly into the city’s sewer main in less than 24 hours. If the city had contacted us on December 9th, the problem would have been fixed the same day. Instead, the city knowingly allowed this overflow to continue for 41 days. Government officials did something my family never would have done- they allowed products to contaminate the Trinity River for more than a month without taking corrective action. The City has full access to our property at all times to test the sewer line. At any time, officials could have entered our property to find the source of the overflow. There is no cross connection between our sewer line and storm water. The City has now dye-tested and camera inspected our sewer lines, and our sewer line is clear and goes to the city sewer main. The city maintains a box on our sewer line that has for years monitored the amount of waste water going through the line and the substances contained in the waste water. The city monitors this locked box on its own schedule. When the City searched our property they found 18 possible code violations. Within 30 days we addressed and repaired each issue the City brought to our attention. Keep in mind, our Oak Cliff facility has been in operation since the early 1930’s, and the City of Dallas has never cited us for any violations in the past.