Monterey Mushrooms Inc. is at the center of a $67 million lawsuit over allegations that it “polluted a South Bay creek with manure.” The suit was filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office earlier this week. According to the suit, the mushroom grower “intentionally dumped wastewater at its Morgan Hill facility containing toxic levels of ammonia into Fisher Creek, a 14-mile long ephemeral stream that flows into Coyote Creek, through the Coyote Valley of southern Santa Clara County, then into the San Francisco Bay.”
Monterey Mushrooms Inc. is at the center of a $67 million lawsuit over allegations that it “polluted a South Bay creek with manure.” The suit was filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office earlier this week. According to the suit, the mushroom grower “intentionally dumped wastewater at its Morgan Hill facility containing toxic levels of ammonia into Fisher Creek, a 14-mile long ephemeral stream that flows into Coyote Creek, through the Coyote Valley of southern Santa Clara County, then into the San Francisco Bay.”
The wastewater was created “by the use of used horse stable hay and poultry manure in the company’s production process,” according to the complaint. To make matters worse, the suit also claims that “contaminated stormwater from compost processing areas was allowed to flow into waterways.” How did the contaminated water end up in the waterways, though? Well, according to the complaint, the companies “overflow pipe, culverts, and hoses diverted wastewater into fields, which then flowed into Fisher Creek, which bisects the southern side of the company’s facility.” Some pipes even “pumped wastewater directly into Fisher Creek.”
Shortly after filing the lawsuit, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, “Businesses should never make illegal and dangerous trade-offs between pollution and profit…We will vigilantly protect the health of our county’s waterways.”
The county first voiced concerns about the matter a few years ago, garnering the attention of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. As a result, the department’s scientists and wardens “investigated the alleged violations between January 2016 and April 2017.” During the investigation, it was discovered that the “company pumped 700,000 gallons of wastewater into the creek.” Investigators also learned that polluted water was found at Monterey Mushrooms Inc.’s facility in Monterey County. However, Monterey County is outside the jurisdiction for Santa Clara County officials, “so it’s not included in the suit.”
In response to the allegations, Monterey Mushrooms issued a statement saying it was “shocked and disappointed at the filing of this lawsuit, as the company has been in active communication and dialogue with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.”
The company also noted that the alleged “pollution resulted from winter storms of late 2016 and early 2017, when its facility was inundated by rains and its processed water, primarily rainwater, left the property.” Since that incident, Monterey Mushrooms has partnered with agents from the state and county and spent “millions of dollars to install additional storage, as well as engineer the separation of stormwater,” according to the company’s vice president of marketing and product development, Bruce Knobeloch.
For those who don’t know, Fisher Creek is a “tributary to the largest freshwater wetland in Santa Clara County, Laguna Seca, with seasonal ponds that provide habitat for many species of wildlife,” including California tiger salamanders, steelhead trout, and California red-legged frogs.
Sources:
$67 million lawsuit: Bay Area mushroom grower fouled waterways with manure
DA sues Morgan Hill mushroom grower for $67 million in toxic waste lawsuit
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