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Department of Ecology News Release - June 30, 2009
09-155
SPOKANE— A major farm operation in Central Washington is being fined $9,000 for allowing a large amount of turbid water and sediment to flow into Lower Crab Creek in Grant County.
Mike Brown and B&G Farms Inc. failed to follow their farm plan, which had been developed by the Grant County Conservation District with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) guidance to prevent erosion. As a result, sediment-laden water and soil flowed into Lower Crab Creek—a sensitive habitat to fall Chinook and summer steelhead salmon. The soil contains excess nutrients that can harm aquatic life and the sediment buries fish spawning habitat.
Ecology received a complaint that between Feb.7 and Feb. 9, 2008, mud had run into Lower Crab Creek at the base of Smyrna Bench, approximately four miles south of Royal City in Grant County. The dramatic erosion was the result of poor erosion-control practices and a severe storm.
The Smyrna Bench is irrigated ground at approximately 700 feet above the valley floor, perched on the north side of the Saddle Mountains. B&G Farms operates 1,453 acres there with 12 center-pivot irrigation systems for organic farming.
Ecology received another complaint concerning irrigation causing runoff from the Smyrna Bench in April 2008 and again in July 2008. Investigations revealed that a large amount of fine, sandy soil had traveled a mile to the creek, creating a new channel that made it easy for the eroded soil to transport itself the mile down to the water during future storms. Some sections of the gulley were an estimated 6 feet deep and 10 feet across.
“B&G’s field was left in a condition that was conducive to erosion, from both water and wind,” said Ecology’s water quality specialist Jon Jones. “There was nothing to prevent, or to slow, runoff. The erosion, and resulting pollution of the state’s waters, was a result of a farming practice that failed to follow a well-thought-out farm plan.”
Besides the $9,000 penalty, Ecology requires that B&G Farms follow its farm plan and take significant actions to avoid erosion and protect water quality. This means keeping cover crops or residue from past crops so the soil stays put. It may also mean supplemental conservation practices such as creating field borders and grass buffer strips.
B&G Farms may appeal the penalty to either Ecology or to the state’s Pollution Control Hearings board within 30 days.
Keith Stoffel (right), who manages Ecology’s water resources program in Spokane, and
Jon Jones of Ecology’s water quality program, investigate the damage caused by mud flows
from B&G Farms’ land. Photo by Lynn Maser.
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Media Contact: Jani Gilbert, communications manager, (509) 329-3495; cell, 509-990-9177; e-mail jagi461@ecy.wa.gov
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
