Santa Clara DA filed a claim for $67 million company Monterey Mushrooms Inc., which, according to the Prosecutor’s office for years deliberately dumped toxic waste in Fisher Creek, a tributary to Coyote Creek. This Creek in turn empties into the Bay of San Francisco, which is the source of drinking water for residents throughout California.
#SCCDANEWS: Santa Clara DA Sues Major Mushroom Company for
Dumping Waste in Creek https://t.co/6LVqt7O848 pic.twitter.com/jLKD5v77OC
Santa Clara DA (@SantaClaraDA) December 27, 2018
Monterey Mushrooms Inc. — one of the largest producers of mushrooms in the United States, it has offices and branches in 12 States. The headquarters of the company is located in Watsonville.
The investigation was launched in early 2016, when a group of residents of Morgan hill have complained to the California Department of fish and game about the illegal dumping of waste from the territory of Monterey Mushrooms Inc. The company allegedly leaking harmful waste water in Fisher Creek to dispose of that waste at no additional cost. According to the Prosecutor, it ended in the spring of 2017. 7 and 8 January 2017 were recorded 2 cases, when Monterey Mushrooms Inc. merged about 2.6 million litres of waste water in Fisher Creek within 48 hours. When investigators took samples for the presence of toxic substances in these wastewaters, they found incredibly high levels of ammonia and 90 mg/L. EPA States that «acute toxic» level of ammonia is 17 mg/L. This high level of the substance in the production of Monterey Mushrooms Inc. can be explained by using horse manure and poultry manure for growing mushrooms. Presumably, the company polluted the stream for 6 years.
«Enterprises should not make illegal and dangerous trade-offs between pollution and profit,» said district attorney Jeff Rosen. «We will carefully guard the purity of the waters of our country.»
