Environmental complaint filed
against slaughterhouse project
by animal rights group

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

Animal Rights Hawaii wants the state to require an environmental impact statement for a proposed slaughterhouse at Barbers Point.

The animal rights group yesterday filed a complaint in Circuit Court to try to stop Farmers Livestock Cooperative from constructing the slaughterhouse and meat processing plant on 32 acres of state-owned property at Kalaeloa.

The complaint seeks an injunction against the state Department of Agriculture, Palama Meat Co. and the Farmers Livestock Cooperative, which runs the Ewa slaughterhouse.

"We hope the state will do the right thing in the interests of protecting the health of our people and the environment," said Cathy Goeggel, Animal Rights Hawaii's director of research and investigation.

The group is challenging the state Department of Agriculture's recent findings that the plant will have no significant effect on the environment.

Hawaii Livestock Cooperative, which loses its lease on its Ewa facility in 2002, plans to build the plant on 6 acres. The state has provided a $10 million loan to Palama Meat Co. to jointly build a meat-processing plant.