Pilgrim’s Pride says it is no longer seeking to build a pet food ingredient rendering plant in Etowah County, The Gadsden Times reported Friday.
“Pilgrim’s regrets that it will not have the opportunity to contribute to the economic development of Gadsden,” Cameron Bruett, the company’s head of corporate affairs, said in a statement to the newspaper.
The plant was to be built on land owned by the Gadsden Airport Authority. “Reject the rendering” plant signs had sprung up across the area as residents voiced opposition.
“While we remain confident in the merits of our proposed project, the Gadsden Airport Authority’s recent vote makes it clear there is no interest in selling or leasing its land for economic development,” Bruett’s statement to The Times continued.
“As such, Pilgrim’s has filed motions with Etowah County Court to dismiss pending litigation and we will no longer pursue our proposed project with the Gadsden Airport Authority.”
The proposed rendering plant had been a highly contentious project that gripped the community for several months, involving demonstrations and a highly coordinated opposition campaign which made its own offer for the property in question.
Opponents said the proposed plant would be smelly and dangerous, bringing in too much traffic and possibly posing a hazard to airport operations.
The project had been the inspiration behind numerous signs around Etowah County reading “Reject the Rendering” and “Stop the Stink.”
A judge hearing the lawsuit wrote in June that the plant, located near homes, schools and at least one church, would receive 120 truckloads of dead chickens and chicken parts around the clock each day.
Gadsden Mayor Sherman Guyton told WIAT 42 that he was disappointed Pilgrim’s Pride would not come to the area.
“It was just all a big con job and it got killed before it ever got off the ground,” Guyton told the station.
