Assateague Coastal Trust

OCEAN CITY, MD – December 17, 2009 – Assateague Coastkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance today announced that they have sent a notice of intent to file suit against the Alan and Kristin Hudson Farm – a chicken factory farm located in Berlin, MD – and Perdue Farms, Inc., for violations of the Clean Water Act. The Eastern Shore facility, which consists of an 80,000-bird Concentrated Animal Feed Operation (CAFO), is owned by Alan Hudson, a contract grower for Perdue Farms.

This legal action against Hudson Farm and Perdue is the culmination of several years of intense scrutiny of the Maryland CAFO industry for its contribution to the ongoing decline in health of the state’s local waters. The results of recent water sampling from ditches that ran past an extensive, uncovered manure pile on the property show high levels of many toxic pollutants, including fecal coliform, phosphorus and nitrogen. In addition, photographic evidence taken from both the ground and the air over the past few months clearly shows the runoff from the manure pile to the surrounding ditch drainage areas. The facility discharges pollution into the Franklin Branch of the Pocomoke River, which then empties into Chesapeake Bay.  Both the Pocomoke and the Bay have been listed as impaired for nutrients under the Clean Water Act.

“If you want to find out why the Chesapeake watershed is so polluted, then you don’t need to look any further than this facility and others like it around the Eastern Shore,” said Liane Curtis, Waterkeeper Alliance staff attorney. “It is outrageously irresponsible behavior on the part of industry and a lack of diligent oversight by state officials that continues to put Maryland’s waterways and residents at great risk.  As long as these types of activities continue, we will never see a healthy and reinvigorated Chesapeake Bay.”

“Unfortunately, what we’re seeing with Hudson Farm – piles of uncovered chicken manure sitting in open fields, alongside drainage ditches that carry pollution to the area’s streams and rivers, and eventually to the Bay – is commonplace throughout the Eastern Shore,” said Scott Edwards, Director of Advocacy for Waterkeeper Alliance. “EPA Region III has done some very good work trying to control Maryland’s CAFO industry, but we’re not going to see change without citizens enforcing the law themselves.”

The permitting scheme follows on the heels of efforts to get the industry to clean up its act, including the use of taxpayer dollars to build manure storage sheds so piles of waste are not exposed to the elements, resulting in harmful runoff.  But even those efforts are being ignored by some CAFO operators.

“We’re seeing growers around the state using storage sheds meant for manure to keep their equipment safe and dry, while dumping waste on the ground outside the shed,” said Assateague Coastkeeper Kathy Phillips. “Until this industry takes on responsibility for its waste and state environmental agencies get serious about protecting our waterways, no amount of taxpayer money, ongoing study or well-intentioned legislation is going to fix the Bay’s problems.”

The Waterkeeper organizations plan on filing a case in federal court against Hudson Farm and Perdue after the 60-day notice period expires, in which they will be seeking an injunction against further pollution, an order to clean up the mess and fines for each day of violation.  Waterkeepers will be represented by attorneys with Waterkeeper Alliance and by the University of Maryland Law School Environmental Law Clinic under Director Jane F. Barrett.

Waterkeeper Alliance photos of the Hudson Farm property are available on request.

Goodman Media for Waterkeeper Alliance