HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges Wednesday against a Carlisle company and its owner for an unreported 2021 spill of food processing waste in Franklin County that contaminated nearby residents’ drinking water.
Jones Manure Hauling, LLP, and its owner, Jesse Jones, face a felony count of unlawful conduct under the Clean Streams Act and related misdemeanor charges, according to the attorney general’s office.
Investigators said the company spilled a large amount of Food Processing Residuals (FPR), which are a mixture of organic materials including animal slaughter waste used as fertilizer, on June 30, 2021, at the Barr Farm in Greencastle.
The spill occurred when a hose ruptured while transferring material from a Jones truck to a storage pit. Jones did not report the incident to the state Department of Environmental Protection as required, authorities said.
Neighbors soon complained of foul-smelling drinking water that smelled like “dead poultry” and “decomposing animals mixed with chicken manure,” the attorney general’s office said. The DEP determined the spill had contaminated the water supply, which remains affected.
The case was referred to the attorney general’s Environmental Crimes Section in 2023. Charges were filed this week.
“This company’s neglect after they knowingly spilled FPR cost neighbors access to clean drinking water — which remains contaminated to this day,” Sunday said in a statement. “We recognize and appreciate the many benefits provided through Pennsylvania’s rich history of strong agriculture, but this sort of conduct is unacceptable. Every Pennsylvanian has a basic right to clean water.”
Jones Manure Hauling provided FPR to numerous farmers in the area, according to investigators.
The charges are allegations. Jones and the company are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The case will be prosecuted by the attorney general’s Environmental Crimes Section.
