Egg Company Fined for Polluting

Ohio’s attorney general has settled a lawsuit with one of the nation’stop egg producers. The suit claimed the company’s farms caused flyinfestations and pollution. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’sJo Ingles reports, neighbors of the operation are not convinced the farmwill hold up to its end of the bargain:

Transcript

Ohio’s attorney general has settled a lawsuit with one of the nation’s top
egg producers. The suit claimed the company’s farms caused fly infestations
and pollution. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jo Ingles reports, neighbors of
the operation are not convinced the farm will hold up to its end of the
bargain.


Dan Perkins says the nearby Buckeye Egg facility has polluted his creek. So
he thinks the one million dollar fine the company has agreed to pay, under
this settlement, is just a drop in the bucket….and he doesn’t like the way
the company gets to pay it.


“They give this guy a one million dollar
fine and six years to pay it off? Do you get six years to
pay off a speeding ticket?”


Perkins doubts the company will live up to the agreement. But a spokesman
for Ohio’s attorney general, Joe Case, says the company has financial
incentive to do that.


“All of the money that would be profit will
be re-routed back into the facilities to modernize them to make sure they
obey Ohio’s environmental law.”


It’s hard to know what Buckeye Egg thinks about the agreement of the
neighbor’s skepticism. Company executives are not returning phone calls from
reporters.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jo Ingles in Columbus.