SAN JOSE, Calif. — The nation’s largest mushroom grower has agreed to pay $2.24 million to settle an environmental protection lawsuit brought by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The company, Monterey Mushrooms Inc., was accused of polluting a South Bay creek with manure for years, despite orders and warnings dating back to the 1980s.
The judgment, the largest for a water pollution lawsuit in county history, will be used in part to restore the damaged Fisher Creek, a 14-mile long ephemeral stream that flows into Coyote Creek, through the Coyote Valley of southern Santa Clara County, then into the San Francisco Bay.
“There has to be major accountability for years and years of preventable pollution,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. The county had filed a $67 million lawsuit against the company.
The county charged that Monterey Mushrooms intentionally dumped toxic wastewater — created by the use of used horse stable hay and poultry manure — from holding ponds at its Morgan Hill facility into the creek to dispose of the waste for free.
Despite receiving several cleanup and abatement orders from the Regional Water Quality Board dating back to 1985, the company routinely continued its discharge into the creek, according to the county.
It also stored large piles of compost close to the creek, allowing harmful chemicals and organic matter to seep into the water.
The incidents were not intentional, Monterey Mushrooms spokesman Bruce Knobeloch said in a statement. They followed storms which flooded Coyote Creek. The company said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the lawsuit.
Since the suit was filed, Monterey Mushrooms has spent $2.75 million in facility improvements and, as part of the settlement, agreed to a 5-year injunction with training, testing and oversight conditions.
Monterey Mushrooms, founded in 1971, is the largest grower of mushrooms in North America, producing 250 million pounds of mushrooms annually.
