$67M Suit Filed Against One of Nation's Largest Mushroom Growers

MORGAN HILL, CA -- One of the nation's largest mushroom growers appears to be in a pile of do-do with Santa Clara County. The District Attorney's Office has filed a $67 million lawsuit accusing the Morgan Hill company for intentionally dumping wastewater containing high toxic levels of ammonia into a county creek that eventually flows into San Francisco Bay.

Monterey Mushrooms, Inc. has pumped wastewater from its stormwater holding pond and water-holding tanks at the Morgan Hill facility into Fisher Creek, which flows into Coyote Creek, the Deputy District Attorney Denise Raabe reported. The waterway is home to steelhead trout, tiger salamanders and California red-legged frogs. In 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deemed the former as "threatened," once feared to disappear forever and a favorite for anglers in the West. The latter two species are currently considered "vulnerable" by Earth Justice.

“Businesses should never make illegal and dangerous tradeoffs between pollution and profit,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said after his office filed the complaint alleging dozens of unfair business practices and California Department of Fish and Wildlife violations. “We will vigilantly protect the health of our county’s waterways.”

An investigation by the state agency and the district attorney showed that from early 2016 to the spring of 2017, Monterey Mushrooms, Inc. intentionally pumped harmful wastewater from its holding ponds into waterways in order to dispose of the waste without incurring any cost.

The Morgan Hill facility also allowed contaminated stormwater from its compost processing and soil runoff to flow into waterways, according to the Raabe, who works in the Environmental Protection Unit. Overflow pipes, culverts and hoses diverted wastewater into fields - which then flowed into Fisher Creek, it added. Other pipes pumped wastewater directly into Fisher Creek.

On two of the many occasions documented in 2017 on Jan. 7 and 8, investigators estimated that Monterey Mushrooms, Inc. pumped about 700,000 gallons of wastewater into Fisher Creek during a 48-hour period. In other instances, investigators sampled the wastewater discharged into the waterways and tested for various toxic substances. In one instance, the wastewater contained ammonia as nitrogen at 90 milligrams per liter, tests obtained prove.

"That's really bad. Ammonia is pretty toxic. If they measured it, it's usually pretty bad (anyway)," said Lauri Kemper, retired deputy director for the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Kemper told Patch that ammonia is tested as a gas.

"Officially, when they're measuring ammonia, they're only measuring the nitrogen molecule, not hydrogen. This is more for the chemist to test apples to apples," she added.

The amount defined as “acute toxicity” is 17 mg/liter, as set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The high levels of ammonia are created by chemicals emitted through used horse stable hay and poultry manure in the company’s production process.

This appears to be not the first time the company has clashed with counties. The firm, with other stations in Watsonville, settled another legal complaint issued by the Monterey County Deputy District Attorney's Office, agreeing to pay $300,000 in restitution, the Monterey County Weekly reported last July.

--Image courtesy of Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office