SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) – An environmental protection group is suing Perdue Farms in Seattle over what it says is the illegal discharge of pollutants.
Waste Action Project brought the lawsuit June 2 against Perdue, doing business as Draper Valley Farms, in federal court. It claims Perdue has violated the terms and conditions of its Clean Water Act permit authorizing discharges from a facility in Mount Vernon.
Perdue discharged more than the 1,430 pounds per day allowed over several five-day periods of biological oxygen demand, the case says.
“Defendant has failed to properly train its wastewater treatment system operators, failed to properly maintain its wastewater treatment system chemical dosing equipment and pumps, as required by the Permit, and has repeatedly connected slaughterhouse equipment into its wastewater system in a manner that interferes with proper functioning of the treatment system, in violation of the Permit,” the lawsuit says.
“Defendant has a history of significant violations similar to those alleged herein, including discharges of excessively polluted wastewater and stormwater, failure to collect and/or submit monitoring information, failure to maintain water pollution control plans, and failure to take timely corrective actions in response to polluted discharges.”