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Groups threatens WA dairies with lawsuit
October 24, 2012 by Dairy Profit Update
October 23, 2012 – The Center for Food Safety and the Community Association for Restoration of the Environment (CARE) last week threatened four Yakima Valley dairy farms with lawsuits after a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report blamed the dairies for contaminating residential wells.
CARE said the dairies had 90 days to “stop contaminating local drinking water supplies with runoff from their dairy operations and begin to make amends for the damage they have already caused.”
Representing the two advocacy groups, national public interest law firm Public Justice served 90-day “Notice of Intent to Sue” letters, alleging that the farms have committed repeated violations of federal environmental laws. The notices come three weeks after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a 307-page report, saying wells downstream from a “cluster” of dairies in the lower Yakima Valley were contaminated with nitrates, antibiotics and other pollutants.
The notices also alleged reporting violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
