Court favors Cargill in SF Bay dispute |
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Published
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Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:12
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that agribusiness company Cargill Inc.'s polluted waste water pond along the San Francisco Bay doesn't violate the Clean Water Act.The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a 2003 lower court decision that found that Cargill was discharging pollution without a permit in violation of the act because the pond was next to the bay.But the appeals court said that provisions of the Clean Water Act don't extend from waterways such as the San Francisco Bay to the enclosed pond owned by the Wayzata, Minn.-based company.'The so-called pond doesn't discharge into the bay,' said Cargill's lawyer John Barg. 'It has no impact on the bay.'The environmental group San Francisco Baykeeper originally sued Cargill in 1996 and attorney Daniel Purcell said the group had not decided whether to appeal further.Cargill and its predecessors have produced salt along the bay by evaporation since the 1860s. The salt production and harvest leaves behind waste water, which Cargill retained in ponds next to the bay.Cargill sold much of its bay side property for $100 million in 2003 to the federal and state governments, which launched the largest wetlands restoration project ever on the West Coast to return the ponds to their pre-industrialized conditions.A report released Wednesday found that it may take up to $1 billion and 50 years to restore the wetlands.Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Cargill CEO Staley to retire 