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Walker County residents protest potential McLemore Cove chicken processing plant

Ruth Almeter speaks alongside Blackwell Smith, longtime resident and business owner in Walker County, about not wanting a Pilgrims Pride chicken plant in McLemore Cove Thursday outside the 1591 Broad Street plant in Chattanooga. Ruth Almeter speaks alongside Blackwell Smith, longtime resident and business owner in Walker County, about not wanting a Pilgrims Pride chicken plant in McLemore Cove Thursday outside the 1591 Broad Street plant in Chattanooga.

By Tyler Jett June 1, 2018 6 min read

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Walker County residents protest chicken processing plant

Blackwell Smith, longtime resident and business owner in Walker County, does not want a Pilgrims Pride chicken plant in built McLemore Cove. Smith and others made their thoughts known along West Main Street Thursday across from the Broad Street plant in downtown Chattanooga. Danae Sweeton, right, was there "for the animals of the cove," she said.

Downtown on Main Street, Blackwell Smith, right, longtime resident and business owner in Walker County, speaks about not wanting a Pilgrims Pride chicken plant in McLemore Cove Thursday outside the 1591 Broad Street plant in Chattanooga. Lizzie Caldwell, left, stands with the protest of the plant. Smith represents the McLemore Cove Preservation Society.

With the Broad Street Pilgrim's Pride plant as a backdrop, Betsy Reed, right, stands with Mary Lou Reed, center, on West Main Street and participates in a protest of a proposed chicken plant that may move into McLemore Cove in North Georgia.

Across West Main Street from the Pilgrims Pride chicken plant in downtown Chattanooga, Ruth Almeter, left, Stephanie Everett, Lizzie Caldwell and Bruce bloom look at a Greenway Alliance map of the South Chickamauga Creek Watershed during a protest to the chicken plant possibly moving to McLemore Cove in North Georgia.

In their latest effort to pressure Pilgrim’s Pride against moving to their Georgia community, members of the McLemore Cove Preservation Society protested outside the chicken processing plant at Broad and 17th streets Thursday afternoon, arguing a plant could pollute the local environment.

Blackwell Smith, a longtime resident of the cove, criticized the company for past transgressions. In particular, he pointed to a settlement that a U.S. District Court judge approved in January, after Environment America sued Pilgrim’s Pride in Live Oak, Florida. The company allegedly dumped more pollutants in the Suwannee River than its permit allowed.

Company officials agreed to upgrade that plant with new wells and some systems, which are supposed to prevent a bulk of chemicals from pouring into the water. The company also agreed to pay $1.4 million.

Smith believes a similar incident could occur in the cove, located in a rural stretch of southern Walker County, just west of downtown LaFayette where Lookout and Pigeon mountains meet. Smith was not a fan of the Barwick-Archer carpet mill or Reichhold Chemical plant that used to operate in the area.

“It’s a beautiful community,” he said during a news conference Wednesday. “We’ve gotten rid of our big industry, and now we’d like to not have any more, especially a chicken plant.”