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Perdue/Hudson Law Suit Update
Updated on January 12, 2012
NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED ABOUT THE LAWSUIT
In March 2010, Assateague Coastal Trust and Assateague Coastkeeper joined Waterkeeper Alliance to bring suit against Perdue Farms Inc and one of their contracted growers for polluted discharges of fecal coliform, e.coli, nitrogen and phosphorus coming off the poultry growing facility into waterways connecting to the Pocomoke River and eventually the Chesapeake Bay.
Both Perdue Farms, Inc. and Alan Hudson were named in the lawsuit, because one controls the poultry operation, and the other is the owner/operator of the facility. Coastkeeper joined Waterkeeper Alliance contend both should share responsibility for the polluted discharges. It is important to note that this lawsuit was filed with the support of Maryland citizens who are members of Assateague Coastal Trust and Waterkeeper Alliance, who enjoy recreating in the Pocomoke River watershed and desire clean, healthy waterways.
On Thursday Nov. 17, both sides filed motions and supporting documents laying out their cases in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The case is scheduled for trial in April 2012. View the Waterkeeper’s Motion document.
A Perdue controlled website, called "savefarmfamilies.org" has been disseminating misleading and inflammatory statements and information related to this Clean Water Act citizen lawsuit. With November’s filing of Motions for Summary Judgment, the lawsuit is now at a point where certain court documents are now public and facts are available to dispute the many misstatements on Perdue’s "savefarmfamilies.org" website.
To provide our members and visitors access to public documents related to this case, in an effort to provide facts, we invite you to visit the new website recently launched by the University of Maryland Law School. You will find a timeline of factual events related to this case, all the court documents filed to date — both by Perdue and Waterkeeper Alliance — and other resources that are based on the reality of this case, not rhetoric or politically charged sound bites.
With more than $4.5 billion in revenue, Perdue is one of the largest chicken and turkey producers in the world, processing and packing more than three billion pounds of poultry a year thanks to some 2200 contracted poultry producers in about 15 states.
Despite the benefit of these immense revenues, Perdue claims it bears no responsibility for the waste produced by the chickens it sells; instead, it takes the chickens, makes a profit, and tries to leave the growers with the mess.
Perdue and its grower are polluting the bay. Like other industries in Maryland, they need to be held accountable for the waste they produce.
ACT’s Coastkeeper is one of 12 Maryland Waterkeeper programs and these groups represent over 5,000 Maryland members.
ACT’s Maryland members count on us to work to protect the Coastal Bays and the vital tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Recognizing that government agencies cannot do everything, the Clean Water Act permits groups of citizens to fight to protect these resources we all share in common.
Copyright 2012, Assateague Coastal Trust
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