Mo. to check report of buried barrels at tannery

Mo. to check report of buried barrels at tannery

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- State investigators will look into reports of barrels buried at a St. Joseph tannery that is being sued for allegedly spreading sludge carrying a cancer-causing chemical in the area.

The Kansas City Star reported Friday that the Department of Natural Resources will go to the tannery plant soon to look into claims from a former tannery worker that barrels were buried at the tannery. The worker did not know what was in the barrels.

Keith Welty, spokesman for National Beef Leathers, which recently bought the plant from Prime Tanning, said the company thinks the barrels are a rumor.

Prime Tanning kept at least 100,000 pounds of chromium 6, a carcinogen, on site. In April, a lawsuit was filed accusing the tannery of spreading contaminated sludge on farmland in four counties.