Waste-management companies Synagro and Denali Water Solutions are switching it up.
According to an Aug. 22 announcement on Synagro’s website, the two companies have closed on a “mutually beneficial assets agreement.” Synagro will acquire Denali’s municipal biosolid service business in California, the announcement said, while Denali will take over Synagro’s “industrial non-biosolid organic assets” (meat-processing sludge) in Arkansas and Missouri.
Denali CEO Todd Mathes said the company is excited to further expand its capabilities in the two states.
Denali’s track record in Missouri, however, leaves room for improvement.
After multiple violations of the Missouri Clean Water Law in Newton and McDonald Counties, Denali signed an Abatement Order of Consent (AOC) issued by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in August 2023. The terms of the AOC stipulated that the company cease its land-application in Missouri and empty its Evans and Gideon storage lagoons in Newton and McDonald Counties.
Denali applied to the DNR for permits for future use of the Evans and Gideon lagoons, but the DNR has proposed denying the use of the lagoons, as they do not meet new setback regulations recently signed into law in House Bill 2134/1956.
Denali does not currently have pending land-application permits filed with the DNR for Barry, Newton and McDonald Counties, although they do have pending permits to land-apply waste in Lawrence and Jasper Counties.
Synagro filed an application with the DNR to apply industrial meat-processing waste to 3,192 acres in Barry, Newton and McDonald Counties.
Whether Denali will be able to hasten their own land-application plans in Missouri by using Synagro’s pending DNR permits, as well as the DNR’s “enforcement discretion,” whereby Synagro is operating without a current permit, is uncertain.
Heather Peters, Chief of the Water Pollution Section of the DNR, says the department is aware of mergers, agreements and business connections within the waste management industry.
“As potential permits for land application facilities are expected to be drafted with similar requirements, and as all of the draft permit decisions or permit language will be open for public input, comment and participation, the mergers are not expected to change any potential future permitting actions,” Peters said.
