Silver Fern Farms representatives told the 6A water plan hearing panel yesterday the plan put into question whether it would be able to continue to discharge waste from its Finegand plant into the Clutha River.
Without the ability to discharge waste into the Clutha, it could not continue operations at the site.
Finegand plant manager Phillip Shuker said the loss of the site would have a "significant impact" on the local and wider economy through loss of income for workers and supporting industry.
The plant, which was one of the two largest export meat processing facilities in the country, employed more than 1000 people during peak processing season, with about 10% of Balclutha's population employed at the site, Mr Shuker said.
The loss would also be a significant one for Silver Fern Farms - with the plant having a total replacement cost of $153 million.
It would also mean the $14 million it invested in the site's "state of the art" waste water treatment plant to improve water quality would have been wasted.
Silver Fern Farms environmental adviser Alison Johnstone said the "uncertainty" over the continued operation of the Finegand plant centred on the definition of animal waste - which was prohibited in the plan from being discharged into the waterway.
Despite the council giving assurances the plan change was not intended to affect its Finegand plant - and instead largely targeted farms - this was not clear in the wording of the plan, she said.
"Silver Fern Farms is concerned that with a large proportion of the waste generated and treated from the Finegand being, by definition, animal waste ... [the definition] could also be applied to the operation."
If it was applied this way, the company would be unable to renew its consent when it came up for renewal in 2021.
In order to alleviate Silver Fern Farms' uncertainty, the council needed to clarify that the waste which came from its plant could be classified as industrial - despite a large portion of it being treated animal waste, she said.
Earlier in the day, Silver Fern Farms' submission got off to a rough start with panel chairman Duncan Butcher objecting to the opening remarks of the company's group environmental manager, Daryn Jemmett, when he said the company trusted that the result of the hearings was not "predetermined" without "balancing the evidence before it".
"I take objection to that, I really do. That's challenging my integrity and that of my two panel members," Cr Butcher said.
Cr Butcher also took exception to a request that Silver Fern Farms' submission remain "confidential".
The company subsequently withdrew the request and the comment about ensuring the hearing was not "predetermined".
