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SpanishNicholas Meat Quarterly: Committed to Community and SRF Construction
June 5, 2025
June 5, 2025
June Dairy Month has arrived and so has the summer edition of the Nicholas Meat Quarterly.
While construction on the Sustainable Resource Facility (SRF) may be at a standstill, Nicholas Meat has never been more committed to the community in its efforts to improve the Sugar Valley environment.
The SRF project features award-winning waste-to-energy technology and an advanced water treatment facility. Once fully operational, the facility will help reduce truck traffic at Nicholas Meat, minimize odor, decrease the company’s carbon footprint, generate green energy from biogas, reduce dependence on land application, and reuse water.
“We want the community to know that we deeply appreciate their patience as we wait on factors out of our control,” said Doug Nicholas, COO of Nicholas Meat. “In the nine-plus years since we started researching this concept and then working on the SRF, there is one thing that has not wavered – our commitment to the community to improve air quality, reduce waste and increase our sustainability efforts.”
The SRF project was born out of necessity as well as the love of the community in which Nicholas Meat and many other employees live.
The Loganton borough and Greene Township do not have municipal water facilities so therefore Nicholas Meat – as well as other businesses in the area – must draw from the aquifer.
“I believe in having a sustainable business while also ensuring our children have a future here in Sugar Valley,” Nicholas continued. “Yes, this is a substantial project, but we believe it’s worth the effort to protect the environment and the area we all call home.”
Nicholas is not alone in this assessment. Many in the community agree that the SRF is a necessary project and very supportive of seeing it completed.
“It’s good for the community and for agriculture in general,” said Justin Snook, Clinton County Farm Bureau president. “Additionally, this project is really important for the local economy and animal agriculture.”
For Pennsylvania, agriculture is an integral part of the state’s economy, contributing $132.5 billion in 2024. This is especially true when it comes to beef production with Pennsylvania being the top cattle-producing state in the Northeast United States. In fact, there are 12,000 beef cattle farms and 25,000 total cattle farms in the state. And let’s not forget about the dairy industry. According to the Center for Dairy Excellence, Pennsylvania is ranked 8th in milk production nationally, with the Commonwealth’s 468,000 cows producing almost 10 billion pounds of milk annually. Pennsylvania ranks second in the nation for the number of dairy farms with 4,940 dairy farms. At Nicholas Meat, the current daily beef supply is about 70% dairy cows and bulls and 30% is beef cattle.
Research on the one-of-a-kind project initially started in 2016, and then in January 2018 a “kick-off” meeting was held between Nicholas Meat and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). After a groundbreaking event in May 2021, Nicholas Meat officially started site work two months later. Initially, construction moved along at a good pace despite a few setbacks like early supply chain challenges because of COVID, and then the discovery of pyritic shale which had to be removed. However, in 2024 construction was halted when the Greene Township Supervisors imposed an Improvement Guarantee (financial security) on the project.
“We believe the financial guarantee requirement is a misapplication of the subdivision and land development ordinance (SALDO) by Greene Township,” said Duane Eichenlaub, Nicholas Meat Regulatory and Sustainability Manager. “The SALDO is intended to protect the township and public entities in the event public improvement projects like subdivisions are not completed, thereby leaving the township with an unfunded public obligation.
“The SRF is a private project being constructed on private property with private funding by a private business. The project poses no financial risk to the township.”
Nicholas Meat appealed to the township board to reconsider. The Greene Township Board didn’t budge on the financial guarantee, and then added a new request. They informed Nicholas Meat in June 2024 that construction could not continue until Nicholas Meat received approval for its Water Quality Management (WQM) permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). Nicholas Meat was already working on that permit and submitted it in November 2024. This was the first time the WQM permit was referenced as being the sole reason the township did not give final land development approval, despite no reference to this as a condition in a letter received from Greene Township in May 2024.
On May 16, 2025, Nicholas Meat received approval of the WQM permit from PADEP and they did so with no further changes requested. This approval reflects the comprehensiveness of the application and the thorough details that were provided to the PADEP.
“This opens the doors for moving the construction forward and we are really excited about that,” Eichenlaub explained. “While the construction season for 2025 is not an option, it helps set things in motion for 2026 where we can continue making progress on the SRF.”
As demand for beef continues to be strong, Nicholas Meat remains dedicated to supplying a safe and nutritious beef supply in a sustainable manner. And while there have been roadblocks in moving forward with the project, the company remains committed to completing what it started and is very grateful for the recent permit approval from PADEP.
“We want to finish the SRF. It’s important to our business and most importantly, to a sustainable Sugar Valley,” Nicholas concluded. “We can do something truly meaningful for the community by addressing their concerns like truck traffic, odor and water conservation. While we were able to complete the WQM permit objective, the question remains: will those with the authority to move this project forward consider the community needs or continue to cause unnecessary delays on the SRF?”
2016/2017
2018
January-June 2021
July-December 2021
January-June 2022
July-December 2022
January-June 2023
July-December 2023
April 2024
May 2024
June 2024
November 2024
June 2025
Quotes
“We thank you for your patience.” Doug Nicholas, COO of Nicholas Meat, June 2025
“The Nicholas Meat SRF is bringing world-class technology to Pennsylvania that will serve as a model throughout the meat processing industry.” Russell C. Redding, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture, May 26, 2021
“When you look at the project, it’s about doing the right thing for our environment, it’s about doing the right thing for our community and it’s about making sure Nicholas Meat is successful well into the future.” Fred Keller, U.S. Congressman (PA-12), May 26, 2021
“Given what is happening locally, I know of farmers who are not pursuing improvements on their farms because they don’t want to deal with the unrealistic requirements of the township. It’s not worth the frustration and the added financial burden.” Justin Snook, Clinton County Farm Bureau President, May 2024
“We know that completing this first phase of the SRF project will best benefit the community as it will allow reuse of our beef facility process water, which is currently hauled offsite for farmland application as food processing residuals or FPR. This means less water withdrawal from the underground aquifer and less outgoing tanker truck traffic.” Duane Eichenlaub, Nicholas Meat Regulatory and Sustainability Manager, November 2024
“Nicholas Meat is addressing a really important challenge because meat packing operations have a lot of waste. This waste typically has both odor and energy in it, and also lots of nutrients, so the goal of this project is to actually eliminate the odor, to capture the nutrients, and to recover the energy and turn that into power for the meat packing plant.” Tom L. Richard, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University Professor Emeritus of Agricultural And Biological Engineering, May 26, 2021
Other articles you’ll find in the Summer Quarterly: