Development
BY JOEL VALLEY
Darling plant ordered to self-monitor, report emissions ahead of 2027 hearing
Darling Ingredients
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A Travis County District Court judge approved a temporary injunction against Darling Ingredients on March 5. Located between Bastrop County Animal Services and Camp Swift, the facility collects and recycles food industry waste to produce animal feed ingredients, biofuels and other byproducts. The temporary injunction comes after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led a lawsuit against the Irving, Texas-based company in early February for “unlawfully emitting odors and other chemicals” at its Bastrop facility. Under the temporary injunction, Darling Ingredients must self-monitor and self-report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality each time hydrogen sulde emissions exceed
1,000 parts per billion. However, the lawsuit sought a stricter threshold of 80 parts per billion. Amy McBee, a community and government aairs representative with Darling Ingredients, recently told Bastrop County Commissioners the facility needs to do better. “We fully recognize, as a neighbor and a partner in this community, that for some period of time, Darling Ingredients was not doing a good job,” McBee said. “We apologize for that.” Paxton emphasized his desire for Darling Ingredients to be held accountable through “signicant” civil penalties and court-ordered relief for violations of Texas’ air quality laws.
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Darling Ingredients upgraded the processing equipment at the Bastrop facility to improve eciency and reliability.
COURTESY DARLING INGREDIENTS
What’s next?
Some background
A hearing on a nal injunction is scheduled for July 2027. Until then, Darling Ingredients ocials encourage residents to report their concerns to the team one of two ways, including:
largely address air quality and water quality—to the Bastrop facility. Precinct 4 Commissioner David Glass thanked McBee and Betz on behalf of his constituents. “Apparently, you heard the constituents, and you’ve addressed it,” Glass said. “The odors have been much, much better. I think we’d all agree. So thank you for that and listening to us and coming here and making the investment to improve your system.”
Darling Ingredients ocials updated the Bastrop County Commissioners Court during a Feb. 23 meeting about the Bastrop facility, which TCEQ investigated 32 times between 2021 and 2025. “We’re here to do better,” McBee said. “We want to be a good partner in our community.” Kenton Betz, the regional vice president at Darling Ingredients, also discussed approxi- mately $40 million in improvements—which will
Visit www.darlingii.com/bastrop
Call 512-772-4527
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