FBI finds no crime involved in death of cows

SEATTLE — Improper storage — rather than revenge, sabotage, ecoterrorism or other intentional action — caused a toxic compound to sicken and kill several dairy cows, investigators have determined.

“Our investigation has determined there was no crime involved,” FBI agent Roberta A. Burroughs said Sunday.

“It looks like there was some material that was stored in the barn, corroded through (its container) and probably dripped down on the cows.”

The substance had been over a feeding area, “I guess for some time,” Burroughs added. “Whether they’d forgotten about it, we don’t know.”

With that determination, the Joint Terrorism Task Force of local, state and federal agencies was set to close the case on the poisoning of cows at the dairy farm of John Koopman near Enumclaw, about 35 miles southeast of Seattle, she said.

Koopman previously told reporters he knew of no chemicals on his property that might have caused the poisoning.

“Everybody’s feeling really embarrassed right now,” he told KIRO-TV News on Monday.

Koopman said he discovered a reddish-black substance was causing blisters and burns on the backs of 10 cows while milking on June 6.

Three died, the other seven were sickened, Koopman dumped tens of thousands of gallons of milk and a voluntary hold was placed temporarily on milk from his other 330 cows.

Last week, Food and Drug Administration scientists found the substance was “a strong oxidizing chromium compound” and determined that milk from Koopman’s cows was free from risk to the public.

Following that report, Koopman said he had no “type of substance here that would do that to a cow,” nor had he done any chemical work recently.

Investigators would not specify the substance, but a federal source told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer it contained chromium 6, which is used by heavy industrial and pharmaceutical companies in highly corrosive and cancer-causing chemical compounds.

Chromium 6 was the key element in the water pollution case pursued by environmental activist Erin Brockovich in 1996.

No milk from the poisoned cows reached the food supply.

Initially, there was concern that the cow sickenings might be linked to a labor dispute that including a nine-month lockout involving WestFarm Foods, a dairy cooperative of which Koopman is a board member. The lockout at Darigold plants ended in May.

On Thursday, investigators took bags and boxes of undisclosed contents after searching the home of a 60-year-old man in nearby Algona whom Koopman confirmed was a relative by marriage.

The P-I reported that man had been in the metal plating business.

The Environmental Protection Agency was still working on the case, including cleanup, disposal of the toxic material and preservation of samples for further FDA testing, Burroughs said.