American
meat-giant fined for water pullution MONTGOMERY
CITY, Missouri,
Cargill Inc., the nation's largest private corporation, will be held responsible
for a July 2000 accident that killed thousands of fish and other aquatic
species in the Loutre River. The Audrain County Circuit Court has ordered the company
to pay $286,778 in damages for the fish kill resulting from a hog waste
spill. Several thousand fish died between July 27 and July 31, 2000 when
Cargill spilled hog wastes from a lagoon at its McCaw Farm storage facility,
contaminating more than three miles of the Loutre River. An inspector from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) discovered the spill on July 31, 2000, during a follow up inspection
at McCaw Farms, which had experienced another hog waste spill in June
2000. McCaw Farms, which works under contract with Cargill Pork operations,
has a state permit allowing it to operate a concentrated animal feeding
operation with as many as 16,800 hogs in 24 barns. The fine assessed against Cargill includes payment for the
economic value of the fish killed and costs incurred by the Missouri Department
of Conservation in investigating the spill. The Conservation Department will receive $62,687. Cargill
must pay $160,000 to the Audrain County School Fund and $54,091 to the
Missouri DNR for violating the Missouri Clean Water Law. Cargill, a diversified company with more than 80,000 employees
worldwide, also was ordered to pay $10,000 to cover the legal and investigative
costs incurred by the Missouri Attorney General's office. Cargill's interests
include food production and processing, trading in oil and agricultural
commodities, futures brokering, feed and fertilizer production and steelmaking.
The company is the nation's top grain grower and second largest meat packer.
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