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Groups file Clean Water Act suit against Pilgrim's Pride for polluting the Suwanee

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ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS FILE CLEAN WATER ACT SUIT AGAINST WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST CHICKEN PRODUCER, PILGRIM’S PRIDE, FOR POLLUTING THE SUWANNEE RIVER

Groups Sue Live Oak Processing Plant for Polluting “Outstanding Florida Water”
With Toxic Wastewater in Violation of Permit Limits

Environment Florida announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court in Jacksonville against the second-largest chicken producer in the world, Pilgrim’s Pride, for alleged ongoing violations of the federal Clean Water Act at its poultry processing plant in Live Oak, Florida.
Filed in court today, the complaint alleges that the company has committed 1,377 days of Clean Water Act violations since 2012, by discharging wastewater that exceeds pollution standards by as much as triple the legal limits. The lawsuit is a major step towards restoring the health of the Suwannee River.
“Here is one of the world’s largest meat companies continually dumping pollution into one of Florida’s most beautiful rivers,” said Jennifer Rubiello, State Director of Environment Florida. “If our own state officials won’t step in and protect the Suwannee, then Environment Florida will.”
Pilgrim Pride’s pollution contributes to low dissolved oxygen levels and toxic algal blooms, which are serious environmental problems plaguing the Suwannee and other Florida waterways.  Moreover, some of Pilgrims’ alleged violations are for toxicity – meaning they can disrupt the survival, growth, and reproduction of aquatic organisms.
The middle Suwannee River is famous for its 62 freshwater springs, is home to several state parks, and is part of the Florida Trail and the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail, a paddling route with river camp locations which receives over 43,000 visitors a year. The area is very popular with hikers, fishermen, and boaters. The Suwannee River State Park, near the processing plant’s pollution discharge point, is home to some of the best backcountry paddling in the state and welcomes more than 35,000 visitors yearly.
Sierra Club has also given formal notice of intent to sue Pilgrim’s Pride, and will join as a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit after the 60-day waiting period mandated by the Clean Water Act.
“The Suwannee River is one of Florida’s jewels,” said Whitey Markle, a longtime member of the Suwannee-St. John’s Group of the Sierra Club.  “It is essential that we preserve this valuable river for the enjoyment of all Florida citizens and visitors to the Sunshine State.”
In fact, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has designated the Suwannee River as one of Florida’s 41 “Special Waters” (a water of exceptional recreational or ecological significance) within the category of Outstanding Florida Waters.
“As a biologist, I research the springs of the Suwannee River, and as a nature lover I lead canoe trips on the Suwannee, so it is clear to me that any harm to this special natural resource is shameful,” said Bob Knight, Environment Florida member and President of the Board at the Florida Springs Institute. “I want to be able to take my grandchildren paddling down the Suwannee with me, which means any further pollution needs to stop.”
The allegations in the lawsuit only address discharges that allegedly violate Pilgrim’s Pride’s permit. But the total pollution from Live Oak facility is much larger: the company dumped 379,641 pounds of toxic pollution into the Suwannee River in 2014, according to data from U.S EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory.
Such dumping fits into a broader pattern of pollution by Pilgrims’ Pride and its parent company, the Brazilian-based meat giant JBS. Last summer, Environment America – of which Environment Florida is a state affiliate – published a national report documenting water pollution by major agribusiness firms. According to the Environment America report, JBS’ supply chain in the U.S. generate 45 million tons of manure, and its processing plants (including this Pilgrim’s one in Florida) dumped more than 37 million pounds of toxic pollution into waterways from 2010 to 2014.
Today’s Clean Water Act citizen enforcement suit is part of Environment America’s effort to reduce corporate agribusiness’s massive toll on America’s rivers and streams.
Environment Florida’s complaint seeks a federal court order requiring the Live Oak facility to comply with its Clean Water Act permit, as well as civil penalties against Pilgrim’s Pride to punish it for past violations and to deter future violations.
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has operations in 14 states, Mexico, and Puerto Rico and is a supplier to KFC, Wal-Mart, Publix, and Wendy’s and generated a revenue of $7.9 billion in 2016. The Live Oak facility processes live poultry into fresh and frozen chicken meat products, and operates a broiler hatchery to produce chicks for distribution to growers. Pilgrim’s Pride is part of Brazilian company JBS S.A., the largest meat company by sales in the world.
 

Environmental Groups Announce Lawsuit Against World’s Second Largest Chicken Producer for Illegal Pollution of Suwannee River

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WHAT: Members of the citizen-based environmental groups Environment Florida and the Sierra Club (Suwannee-St Johns Group) will be joined by their attorneys to announce the filing of the groups’ federal lawsuit to stop violations of the Clean Water Act that are polluting one of Florida’s Outstanding Waters, the Suwannee River. The groups will describe the poultry processing facility’s alleged violations and speak about the pollution’s effect on the Suwannee River.
WHO: 
Jennifer Rubiello, Environment Florida Director
Whitey Markle, Chair of the Sierra Club Suwannee-St Johns Group
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, Sierra Club Organizing Representative
Heather Govern, Attorney, National Environmental Law Center
Andrew Bonderud, Attorney
WHEN: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 – 10:00 am
WHERE: In front of the Hogan Street entrance of the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse (Jacksonville’s Federal Courthouse)
300 N Hogan St, Jacksonville, FL 32202

Scott Pruitt won’t protect Florida’s air, water or families

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The Senate voted today to approve President Trump’s nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Environment Florida’s State Director, Jennifer Rubiello, issued the following statement in response:
“This country needs an Environmental Protection Agency Administrator whose top priority is protecting our air and water and our families’ health. We need somebody willing to enforce and defend our bedrock environmental laws and a leader guided by science when creating and implementing policy.
“It’s clear that Scott Pruitt won’t protect Florida’s air, water or families and we are extremely disappointed that he will now be the next EPA administrator. As attorney general, he put dirty energy interests and other polluters ahead of protecting public health. Instead of taking steps to reduce pollution, he sued to stop the agency he will now lead from enforcing critical clean air and water protections.
“In fact, as attorney general, Scott Pruitt joined with polluters to file 14 lawsuits against the very agency he will now run. These suits aimed to dismantle critical public health safeguards ranging from the Clean Water Rule that protects drinking water sources for nearly 2 million Floridians to the Mercury and Air Toxic rule that protects our kids and other vulnerable citizens from highly damaging pollution.
“In addition, as Oklahoma Attorney General, Mr. Pruitt disbanded the state’s environmental protection unit. He was the leading opponent of the Clean Power Plan which set the first ever national limits on carbon pollution and undercut actions to clean up major poultry pollution problems in his state’s river system.
“When asked during his hearing, Mr. Pruitt could not name one current EPA protection that he supported.
“Floridians and all Americans deserve an EPA administrator who will fight to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the planet we love. Scott Pruitt fails on all these accounts.
“We thank Senator Nelson for standing up for our families’ health, clean water and clean air and voting to reject President Trump’s nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the EPA. Unlike his colleague, we are extremely disappointed that Senator Rubio voted to jeopardize our families’ health and Florida’s environment by approving Pruitt to head the EPA.”
Environment Florida is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization working for a cleaner, greener, healthier future.

It’s Time to Get the Lead out of School Drinking Water, Says Environment Florida

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Citing growing evidence of pervasive lead contamination in schools’ drinking water, Environment Florida today launched a new Get the Lead Out campaign calling for swift action to ensure lead-free water in Florida’s schools. An analysis by Environment Florida Research & Policy Center gave Florida a grade of F for failing to prevent children’s drinking water from becoming laced with lead at school.
“Schools should be safe places for our kids to learn and play, but Florida is failing to protect our kids from lead in drinking water,” said Jennifer Rubiello, Environment Florida State Director. “Kids’ developing brains are especially susceptible to highly toxic lead so it’s time to get the lead out.”
As more Florida schools test their water, they are finding lead. FAMU Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Don Axelrad and FSU Professor Vincent Salters tested 24 schools in Leon and Wakulla counties and found levels of lead that exceed what the America Academy of Pediatrics deems as safe.
“Lead is a potent neurotoxin, affecting the way our kids learn, grow, and behave,” said Dr. Ron Saff, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Florida State University College of Medicine. “There is no safe level of lead for children.”
Yet a new report by Environment Florida Research & Policy Center shows that such confirmed cases of lead-laced water are likely just the tip of the iceberg. For example, the report cites new data from Massachusetts, where half of more than 40,000 tests conducted last year showed some level of lead in water from taps at school.
All too often, schools (and homes) have pipes, plumbing and/or fixtures that leach lead into drinking water. In some cases, old service lines – the pipes that brings water from the mains in the street into buildings – are made entirely of lead.
Unfortunately, current state law requires nothing to prevent children’s drinking water from becoming laced with lead at school. In Environment Florida’s comparison of 16 states, these shortcomings gave Florida a grade of F.
“Florida is in the Stone Age when it comes to protecting kids from lead in school drinking water,” said Dr. Saff. “We need to be removing lead-bearing plumbing parts from our schools. When youngsters go to class, their IQ should be expanded. Tragically, when they drink lead laced water found in school taps and water fountains, it shaves off IQ points.”
2.16.2017 lead school water
“I’m disappointed to find that Florida’s efforts are an F at the back of the class for protecting children from lead at school,” said Nicole Crumbsy, whose children attend school in Hillsborough County. “I don’t want to worry about my children drinking water with lead. Our kids deserve better. It’s time to get the lead out.”
The report identifies key solutions to ensuring clean drinking water in schools including removing lead service lines, requiring filters certified to remove lead at every tap used for drinking and cooking, and allowing no more than 1 part per billion of lead in water at school, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Parents in other states are demanding action too. Environment Florida’s counterparts are working with doctors, parents and community leaders in seven other states to advance policies that Get the Lead Out of schools and daycares.