"Tyson paying pollution settlement"

(AP) -- Tyson Fresh Meats will pay more than $2 million as part of a settlement over past pollution in the Missouri River near Tyson's Dakota City, Neb. beef processing plant.

The Springdale, Ark., company and U.S. officials announced the $2,026,500 settlement on Thursday.

Prosecutors say that the Tyson plant, which was previously owned by IBP, improperly discharged fecal coliform and nitrites into the river on a number of occasions between July 2003 and March 2004. The high levels of nitrites harmed aquatic life in the river.

The discharges also violated the terms of a 2002 agreement between regulators and Tyson.

Tyson discharges an average of five million gallons of treated wastewater from its Dakota City plant into the Missouri River each day.