ANNAPOLIS – The chairman of Perdue Farms calls a lawsuit against his company and one of its contract farms “one of the largest threats to the family farm in the last 50 years,” and asked Maryland’s Eastern Shore delegation to help.
Jim Perdue, chairman and CEO of Perdue Farms, said no lawsuit would ever have been filed if state agencies would “do their job.”
Tuesday, the Assateague Coastal Trust and the Waterkeeper Alliance announced they are suing Perdue Farms and a farm owned by Alan and Kristin Hudson in Berlin. The environmental groups say the farm illegally discharged “harmful pollution” into the Pocomoke River.
Assateague Coastkeeper Kathy Phillips said the dispute began when she flew over the Hudson farm and saw what she believed was a large pile of chicken waste sitting uncovered. She took samples of water downstream of the pile, and said the results showed high levels of bacteria.
Maryland Department of the Environment officials said the pile was actually Class A sewage sludge — human waste that has been treated at a wastewater treatment plant and is used as fertilizer. Their water tests also found high levels of bacteria, but the department has not said whether the farm violated any regulations or if they will take any action.
Perdue said the MDE should have acted more quickly to grant required discharge permits, and that the lag time created a “void,” opening the door for potential lawsuits against farms.
The MDE has regulations for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that went into effect January 2009. Farms must have a certain number of animals and discharge wastewater or contaminated runoff to be considered a CAFO.
These farms are required to get a discharge permit. The permits were not available before Dec. 1, 2009, because of a legal challenge by the Assateague Coastkeeper, the Waterkeeper Alliance and other groups.
Under previous rules, only a handful of farms qualified as CAFOs. But with the new regulations, about 500 farms — including the Hudson farm — have submitted applications for the discharge permit. MDE’s web site says it could take 180 days to process permit applications.
“You won’t see (lawsuits against farms) happening in Delaware,” Perdue said. “I never thought I would ask for more government intervention.”
Perdue also said the MDE should have done testing at the Hudson farm earlier, which could have negated the need for a lawsuit.
The environmental groups filed a 60-day intent to sue notice in mid-December, and MDE officials immediately went to the farm to investigate, said Dawn Stoltzfus, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Initially, the inspectors were denied access to sampling, but they were able to take photos and gather visual evidence on three days in December, Stoltzfus said. Inspectors took samples in January that showed high levels of bacteria, but the department has not finished analyzing the results and cannot discuss them further, she said.
Perdue did not comment on whether he thought the Hudson farm had violated any laws, but said he is worried about the legal costs to the family and to other farm families.
Perdue said he thinks there are more lawsuits coming.
“There are a number of additional family farms on the list,” Perdue said. “They (the environmental groups) really have no interest in water quality. They have one interest: litigation, lawsuits.”
Eastern Shore Delegation Chairman Delegate D. Page Elmore, R-Somerset, said the delegation will raise the issue with Gov. Martin O’Malley.
“I don’t want to see the day when our chickens come from Delaware and Virginia,” Elmore said.
Delegate James N. Mathias Jr., D-Worcester, said he is “extremely distressed” by the lawsuit. “This is a fundamental industry in our district,” he said. “We are with you, man.”
[By Jennifer Hlad of Capital News Service]
Gren Whitman says
Of all people, Frank Perdue is in pre-mourning over the demise of “family farms”?
A “family farm” is the exact opposite of gigantic warehouses with thousands of unhappy chickens over-pumped with chemicals and anti-biotics, some unable to stand and many with their beaks clipped off.
“Family factories” is more like it!
For a first step to protect the Chesapeake Bay and other waters in Maryland, Mr. Perdue and the other chicken industrialists should take responsibllity for the manure problem created by their millions of broilers.
Please, Mr. Perdue, show us one “family farm” connected to your operations!
jim conaway says
This is exactly the kind of story that’s necessary for communities to function and is not being pursued by the state’s remaining newspaper. Congrats to the Chestertown Spy. And the allegations that environmental groups only care about litigation is as ridiculous as Maryland’s refusal to regulate the outlaws, bigs corporations and “family farms” polluting the Bay for maximum profits.
MD Eastern Shore says
My best guess is that chickens are incapable of happiness as we think of it. However, the healthiest chickens almost certainly make for the best eating, so allegations of mistreatment are likely overblown.
That said, there’s absolutely no doubt that land application of chicken manure, whether deliberate or accidental, is ultimately water application, ie. it all ends up in the Bay. Boiled down to its essence, this is about who has more political pull, commercial fishermen or commercial chicken farmers. Right now my money is on the chickens.
Gren Whitman says
Respect for what anyone has to say is greatly diminished — IMHO — without a real name.
Take the Spy correspondent named “MD Eastern Shore” [above] for example … was he — or she — christened as such by doting parents?
If so, are you “Mr. Shore” or “Ms. Shore”?
Have you met “VA Eastern Shore” yet?
Or “MD Western Shore”? “Foreign Shore”? “Jersey Shore”?
Nephew, or niece, of Dinah?
Anyway, Mr. or Ms. Shore, if what you have to share is substantial, why hide behind an alias?
MD Eastern Shore says
Hi Gren… if I told you who I was, you still wouldn’t know me. If you disagree with what I had to say, then tell us why what I said is incorrect. My statement is clearly one of opinion. Obsessing about who I am is a form over substance attempt to discredit what I said by discrediting me, while avoiding the need to address what it is I said. This is a rhetorical device used by lawyers, who are often heard to say, “When neither the law nor the facts are on your side, seek to confuse the issue.” It’s something you have a habit of doing, as I have seen on the Greater Centreville website. By all means, tell me why I’m wrong. I won’t get upset. I’m used to being wrong. I might actually learn something. Educate me!