Blueberry Contamination USA (wgvu) - TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Two Benzie County companies have
agreed to pay $250,000 plus environmental restoration costs for
illegally disposing of liquid blueberry wastes.
The wastes were generated by Graceland Fruit Inc. at its
processing facility in Frankfort. Graceland hired Bonney Brothers
Pumping Co. to transport and dispose of the wastes, which were
dumped into a gravel pit in 2002.
Some of the berry wastes soaked into the groundwater and
polluted a trout stream that flows into Platte Lake.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced a
settlement Monday. It calls for the companies to restore the stream
and pay a $150,000 fine plus $100,000 to repair other environmental
damage in the area.
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