Settlement Ends 4-Year Legal Battle French Fry Firm To Abandon Leaky Wastewater Lagoons

French fry processor McCain Foods Inc. has agreed in a court settlement to abandon leaky wastewater lagoons near Othello, Wash., and to ship its wastes 10 miles away.

Ending a four-year battle over alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act, the Canadian company on Jan. 17 settled in U.S. District Court in Spokane with Hispanos Unidos, a Latino rights organization, Washington Trout and the Central Basin Audubon Society, a pair of environmental groups.

McCain agreed that by November it would pump out existing lagoons surrounding its fry plant and pipe future potato wastes to new, lined lagoons that the company is constructing east of town, said Bill Kloos, attorney for Hispanos Unidos. The move should end contamination of public streams that pass through “Little Mexico,” a nearby Latino community.

“They’re getting out of Dodge,” Kloos said. “It’s exactly the remedy we asked for and we’re very happy.”

McCain characterized the settlement as a continuation of a waste treatment plan already in the works.

McCain, which employs 500 people in Othello, said in a statement that it will spend $7 million building new lagoons, which store potato wastes in the winter when the ground is frozen. The investment will be in addition to $4.4 million that McCain spent earlier to erect a 10-mile system for piping and spraying potato wastes on agricultural fields.

Columbia Basin Institute, a Portland-based research group critical of McCain, said McCain also has agreed to donate $75,000 to support projects such as the cleaning up of streams to benefit the environment and Little Mexico.

“Not only has the environment surrounding the plant been abused, but so have the people who have had to live with the stench and pollution for so many years,” said Jessica Hamilton, Columbia Basin Institute public education director.

Hispanos Unidos remains concerned about a feedlot near McCain and Little Mexico.

Othello businessman Pete Taggares, owner of the site of the defunct Scab Rock Feeders, plans to reopen the leaky feedlot, Kloos said. Hispanos Unidos likely would fight the move, he said.

Taggares was not available for comment.

, DataTimes