WATSONVILLE—Monterey Mushrooms, Inc., the nation’s largest mushroom grower, has agreed to pay $2.24 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the company illegally discharged “hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater” into nearby waterways.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s Office stated that the company has allowed dirty wastewater with toxic levels of ammonia to run onto Fisher Creek—despite warnings and orders stop—since the 1980s.
Fisher Creek is part of the massive Coyote Creek Watershed southeast of the San Francisco Bay.
The environmental protection lawsuit stemmed from a coordinated investigation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the DA’s office which showed that, from early 2016 to the spring of 2017, Monterey Mushrooms released wastewater from its holding ponds into waterways instead of paying to either contain it or dispose of it properly.
The settlement, which will be used in part to restore damage to Fisher Creek, is the largest judgment for a water pollution lawsuit brought by the DA.
“There has to be major accountability for years and years of preventable pollution,” Rosen said in a prepared statement. “Companies in this county should be crystal clear that illegally sacrificing our environment will not be profitable in the long run or tolerated, ever.”
Headquartered in Watsonville at 260 Westgate Drive, the company grows its mushrooms in California, Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, Florida, Pennsylvania and Mexico.
Rosen said that the company has received several cleanup and abatement orders from the Regional Water Quality Board dating back to 1985.
The illegal discharge of wastewater is not the only trouble at the company, Rosen said.
“For years, Monterey Mushrooms stored large piles of compost close to Fisher Creek, allowing harmful chemicals and organic matter into the stream,” he said. “Only when the District Attorney’s Office began its investigation did Monterey Mushrooms change its practices.”
Since the suit was filed, Monterey Mushrooms has spent nearly $2.75 million in facility improvements and, as part of the settlement, agreed to a five-year injunction with training, testing and oversight conditions.
In a prepared statement, Monterey Mushrooms, Inc. Vice President of Marketing and Product Development Bruce Knobeloch said the company “has a long history of being a responsible member of the community, and is committed to the highest standards of environmental compliance.”
“Our company is pleased that we and Santa Clara County have been able to bring closure to this issue without the need for extended litigation,” he said.
According to Knobeloch, the latest trouble stemmed from the deluge of winter storms in 2016 and early 2017, the same time Coyote Creek overflowed and flooded areas within Santa Clara County, and the same timeframe that the Oroville Dam crisis occurred.
“Our Morgan Hill facility was inundated by these record storms and rainwater volume, during the events alleged,” he said.
Knobeloch added that water quality testing showed little to no impact on Fisher Creek given the ample dilution from the localized flooding.
The company has spent millions of dollars in facility improvements, Knobeloch said, and has improved its process of separating stormwater and process water.
Knobeloch did not comment on Monterey Mushrooms’ past accusations of illegal wastewater discharge.
