East Texas Packing Company, LLC

According to the utility contract with the City of Woodville, East Texas Packing Company (ETPC) will dump 50,000 to 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day into our cities water system. They will process 800 cattle and 10,000 sheep and goats per week at full capacity.

East Texas Packing Company, LLC was formed after the failed attempts to establish a Halal meat-packing plant in Winnie, Anahuac, Port Arthur, Kountze, Lumberton, Silsbee, Newton, and Buna – communities in Texas.

Proximity community

• .8 miles from city limits
• .3 miles from nearest residents
• 8500 feet from Rep. Brian Babin
• 8000 feet from the hospital
• 6200 feet from Elementary and High School
• 5800 feet from TDC Gib Lewis unit
• 5600 feet from County Judge
• 3200 from City Limits
• Less than 300 feet from FEMA flood zone
• AND CITY OF WOODVILLE WATER WELL

Why we stand opposed

A “good reputable company” with no available plans nor no track record of running a slaughterhouse with a CEO who is allegedly a maintenance man and the owner is a Nurse Practitioner and we’re expected to believe this will not have any smells or environmental issues – it’ll likely be the first slaughterhouse in history not to be a nuisance.  Former company representative Hani Tohme was quoted in the Lumberton Ledger on June 27, 2016, saying, “we don’t want to be in a place where the people don’t want that project”. In one of the articles listed in the news, ETPC said they would consider leaving if enough people were opposed to them doing business – they haven’t left even with the vast majority standing in opposition.

Their facility, on paper, suggests they will have “state-of-the-art” technology and automation that will reduce the smells and not have any noticeable effects on the environment. They claim they will pre-treat all the water before it even goes to our city’s water system. All of this technology has yet to be tested or verified – at least to our knowledge, in the U.S. It’ll be the first of its kind, supposedly. 

Congressman Brian Babin initiated this charge by making a public post on Facebook to investigate Riceland Farms (owned by Tahir Javed) and that he personally doesn’t want this to come to his community.

State Rep. James White has remained neutral on the matter. He held a public Town Hall with TCEQ to answer our questions and concerns. The town hall was a “dog and pony show” as they started off by saying that they had no knowledge of or have not received any plans to review. So all of their answers came from information from press releases that ETPC has released – one of the TCEQ panelists even fell asleep on stage. According to TCEQ – they can’t do anything unless or until something happens.

Judge Jacques Blanchette has been on the side of the people even going so far as to propose a Resolution to “stand with the will of the people”. 2 commissioners voted in favor, 1 abstained, 1 made an impassioned speech saying it was wrong to stand with the people, blamed disabled old people for not paying enough taxes, and walked out without voting. The resolution passed. He continues to support our efforts in this fight, but admittedly has little/no power to prevent a business from doing what they’re doing. Over 700 phone calls came to the Judge’s office in opposition to the plant; only 5 called in favor of the proposed facility.

We have over 2000 signatures from locals around the county asking City Council to do an environmental impact study and table any agreements the made with ETPC. Council member Bythewood stated that if they didn’t pass the Memorandum of Understanding, ETPC would still open its doors and sue the city if they refused to turn on the water. ETPC will operate outside of the city limits, but with the capabilities to provide city water services.

Current efforts include a pre-emptive class-action lawsuit with a lawyer out of Houston, Texas. He is collecting the names of individuals and businesses who stand to lose property value if the proposed facility is built and becomes a nuisance.

Original Players & Investors

* Mohammed Tahir Javed – Riceland

* Mohammed Shahir Javed – Real Estate

* Nick Lampson (former congressman, sits on Riceland’s board)

* Hani Tohme

LW & MJ Enterprises (landowners of the 39 acres)

*Lindsey Whisenhant

* Shahir (Shawn) Javed

East Texas Packing Company, LLC

* Greg Gray (spokesman, alleged owner, project manager – all titles he’s used. He’s a Nurse Practitioner by trade and according to sources, invested $70k into ETPC)

* Lindsey Whisenhant (local lawyer and landowner – he was opposed to the Pellet Mill being built by his home. He also was in a Facebook group opposed the meatpacking plant in Hardin County)

* M. Javed (investor)

* Danny Stanley (CEO, now resigned – evidence suggests his name was forged on the LLC filing for ETPC. Allegedly, he a maintenance man and they forged his name on the LLC. He has since been removed from the LLC filing and a PR says he resigned due to threats against him and PTSD; allegedly untrue statements based on text messages we have with Danny)