Mushroom Grower Sued By Santa Clara Blames Stormwater Runoff

MORGAN HILL, CA -- Following Santa Clara County slapping one of the nation's largest mushroom growers with a $67 million lawsuit Thursday for allegedly contaminating a creek that through channels eventually empties into the San Francisco Bay, Monterey Mushrooms' executives expressed dismay about such a charge.

Bruce Knobeloch, vice president of marketing and product development, told Patch the company is "shocked and disappointed" at the filing of the suit -- especially with the open dialogue the mushroom purveyor has shared "as recently as last month" with the District Attorney's Office .

Knobeloch insists the deluge of catastrophic winter storms of late 2016 and early 2017 as the source of the contamination since Coyote Creek overflowed and flooded areas within Santa Clara County -- including its 70-acre operation.

"Our Morgan Hill facility was inundated by these record storms and rainwater volume, which resulted in a record release of process water, primarily rainwater, leaving the property. Due to this experience, the company has collaborated with county and state agents and spent millions of dollars to install additional storage, as well as engineer the separation of stormwater," Knobeloch told Patch.

The executive insists Monterey Mushrooms "has a long history being a responsible member of the community and is committed to the highest standards of environmental compliance."

He declined to say whether the company, with additional sites in Watsonville, disputes the results of tests used by the District Attorney's Office upon which to base the lawsuit. The legal challenge accuses the grower of knowingly dumping wastewater containing high toxic levels of ammonia from holding ponds and water tanks into Fisher Creek, contends Deputy District Attorney Denise Raabe of the D.A.'s Environmental Protection Unit.

Fisher Creek flows into Coyote Creek, which is home to steelhead trout, tiger salamanders and California red-legged frogs. In 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deemed the former as "threatened," once feared to disappear forever and a favorite for anglers in the West. The latter two species are currently considered "vulnerable" by Earth Justice.

In one instance, the wastewater contained ammonia (tested as nitrogen gas) at 90 milligrams per liter. Fractions of milligrams are what is more common, one water quality expert told Patch. The amount defined as "acute toxicity" is 17 mg/liter, as set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

--Image courtesy of Monterey Mushrooms