Help Gina and her neighbors get clean water
“For years, I’ve been trying to figure out what was the cause of my son dying of an asthma attack. They’re saying it’s going to cost millions and millions and millions of dollars to fix the problem. . . . They let it go on for too long.”
That’s how Public Justice client Gina Burton described the situation at the Mountaire chicken processing plant in Millsboro, Delaware — a facility that produces 2.4 million gallons of waste every day.
That waste — made up of manure, feathers, carcasses, organs, blood and massive amounts of wastewater — is eventually sprayed onto nearby fields, right by Gina’s home. Groundwater monitoring has shown serious contamination of the surrounding community’s water supply.
Last week, we told Mountaire: Enough. Clean up your act, or we’ll see you in court.
For too long, Mountaire has used Gina’s community as a dumping ground for waste that is shown to cause serious medical issues. As USA Today reported recently, “neighbors living near the plant have for months been questioning whether miscarriages, birth defects, gastrointestinal problems, pet deaths and other health impacts over the years could be related” to Mountaire’s operations.
No one should have to wonder if their neighbors are silently poisoning their families. We’re prepared to sue — on behalf of Gina and her neighbors — to make sure they no longer have to.
We need you to stand with Gina and her neighbors, too.
A bill currently pending in Congress would essentially make it impossible for many families to sue under the Resource Conversation & Recovery Act (RCRA) — the law we’re using to help the people of Millsboro— when huge factory farms contaminate a community’s drinking water. We need to make sure lawmakers don’t take away this last-ditch tool for protecting clean water by adding it to the upcoming Farm Bill and sneaking it through Congress.
Call your Senators and Representative at (202) 224-3121 and tell them: Oppose the Farm Regulatory Certainty Act — in any form — and help protect access to clean drinking water.
Together, we can help families fight polluters and get clean water.