Mushroom farm will pay $2.24M

Watsonville facility was accused of ignoring warnings and polluting creek

The nation’s largest mushroom grower has agreed to pay $2.24 million to settle an environmental protection lawsuit brought by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

The company, Watsonville-based Monterey Mushrooms Inc., was accused of polluting a South Bay creek with manure for years, despite orders and warnings dating back to the 1980s.

The judgment, the largest for a water pollution lawsuit in county history, will be used in part to restore the damaged Fisher Creek, a 14-mile long ephemeral stream that flows into Coyote Creek, through the Coyote Valley of southern Santa Clara County, then into the

San Francisco Bay.

“There has to be major accountability for years and years of preventable pollution,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, in a prepared statement. The county had filed a $67 million lawsuit against the company.

The county charged that Monterey Mushrooms intentionally dumped toxic wastewater, created by the use of used horse stable hay and poultry manure, from holding ponds at its Morgan Hill facility into the creek to dispose of the waste for free.

Despite receiving several clean-up and abatement orders from the Regional Water Quality Board dating back to 1985, the company routinely continued its discharge into the creek, according to the county.

It also stored large piles of compost close to the creek, allowing harmful chemicals and organic matter to seep into the water, the county said.

The incidents were not intentional, Monterey Mushrooms spokesman

Bruce Knobeloch said in an earlier statement. They followed major winter storms which flooded Coyote Creek from Anderson Dam north to San Jose. The company said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the lawsuit, which followed recent “active communication and dialogue” with the county.

Since the suit was filed, Monterey Mushrooms has spent nearly $2.75 million in facility improvements and, as part of the settlement, agreed to a five-year

injunction with training, testing and oversight conditions.

Fisher Creek is a tributary to the largest freshwater wetland in Santa Clara County, Laguna Seca, with seasonal ponds that provide habitat for many species of wildlife. It flows into Coyote Creek, home to steelhead trout, California tiger salamanders and California red-legged frogs.

Monterey Mushrooms, founded in 1971, is the largest grower of mushrooms in North America, producing 250 million pounds of fresh mushrooms every year, according to its website. Known for popularizing the portabella mushrooms, it has since expanded to 10 farms across North America.

The company’s 70-acre Morgan Hill facility is located on Hale and Miramonte Avenues, near Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve and Cinnabar Hills Golf Course.

“Companies in this county should be crystal clear that illegally sacrificing our environment will not be profitable in the long run or tolerated, ever,” Rosen said.