The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said the company will pay a $475,000 penalty to be split evenly between the US Federal and Mississippi governments.
Cal-Maine will bring the facility into compliance with its state-issued water discharge permit, significantly reduce nutrient pollution discharges and improve environmental data collection and reporting practices. It must comply with all the terms by April 30, 2016.
The settlement resolves alleged violations of Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit at the large concentrated animal feeding operation that houses more than 2 million chickens.
Cal-Maine discharged pollutants from the production area into a tributary of a creek without NPDES permit authorization, and applied nitrogen-laden wastewater on fields during winter months when land application was prohibited and sometimes at rates that exceeded their permit requirements.
It also committed hundreds of water sampling, recordkeeping and reporting violations.
EPA estimates Cal-Maine will cut discharges of nitrogen by 89,000 pounds and phosphorous by 20,000 pounds per year and it will cost $418,000 to implement the requirements.