Blessings Blends under fire with permit request

A Milford composting facility's request to transport and process poultry waste has raised questions about whether the business is properly permitted in the first place.

Blessings Blends owner Bruce Blessing has applied to the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control for a nonhazardous liquid waste hauler's permit to transport dissolved air flotation cake from Perdue Foods LLC in Milford. The DAF cake is poultry processing waste, which Blessing would compost, if the permit is granted.

More than a dozen neighbors voiced concern at a Jan. 25 public hearing regarding the application, alleging Blessing is not properly permitted to compost any waste at his Draper Road facility, and they called on DNREC to reject the pending application.

“The department has regulations that say if an operation is not in compliance with all local, state and federal regulations, a permit cannot be issued,” said Maria Payan of the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project. “We're asking that until he gets proper zoning, this should be ceased immediately. The department cannot give out permits if something is not zoned.”

Blessing is adamant he is in compliance with state and county regulations. He argues that a 2014 consent order signed by former DNREC Secretary Collin O'Mara allows him to conduct his business at the rural site, which borders Slaughter Creek, a Delaware Bay tributary. That consent order is not available on DNREC's website.

Prior to the consent order, Blessing's operated under a distribution and marketing permit, which expired in 2010. Blessing applied to renew the permit, he said, but later withdrew it.

“We went through the public hearing to renew the permit,” Blessing said, noting that hearing was held in 2012. “And it was just a mob. It was just a mob. Same type of thing up there. It was just a mob, and there was no real sanity or meritorious complaints. Because there were so many allegations and mistruths, a technical memorandum was issued.”

Blessing was unable to produce a current permit for the facility during a Feb. 10 interview at the site, but said the consent order allows him to continue operations.

Blessing said he has a lease-purchase option on more than 700 acres owned by two different landlords, all of which is zoned commercial. Blessing has filed for a conditional-use permit for the 31-acre parcel where he composts material, which is in an agricultural-residential district, according to county records.

Neighbors have argued that, aside from not being properly permitted, Blessing's operations create unbearable odors that travel far beyond the property's boundaries.

“It is, in our eyes, an illegal toxic dump,” said neighbor Alan Bennett. “Since 2005 when Mr. Blessing began his business, he has shown time and time again that he has no intention of operating his business by any rules, laws or regulations set forth by the state or the county, let alone be a good neighbor.”

Blessing said he's been consulting with Agrilab Technologies, a Vermont-based company, to plan construction of large compost barns to alleviate any odor issues and also provide a new heating source for his greenhouses. Blessing said he hopes to install those buildings once Sussex County Council approves the conditional-use permit for his business, which he filed in 2017 under Blessing Greenhouses and Compost.

While department officials did not directly respond to the concerns of Payan and neighbors during the January public hearing, the public record remains open on the pending application to transport waste from Perdue to Blessing's facility on Draper Road.

Comments can be submitted by emailing Hearing Officer Lisa Vest at lisa.vest@state.de.us, mailing comments to Vest, c/o DNREC, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901, or by faxing them to 302-739-1174. The comment period closes at the end of business Friday, March 3.

Editor’s note: After this story was published, DNREC staff added Blessings’ Secretary’s Order online. Go to dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Documents/Secretarys-Order-No-2014-W-0010.pdf to view the document.