A Lewes law firm is asking a federal judge to allow the firm to intervene in a pending action against Mountaire Farms in Delaware Superior Court.

On June 29, Chase Brockstedt of Baird Mandalas Brockstedt LLC filed a complaint in U.S. District Court stating his firm has a right to intevene in a consent decree signed May 31 by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and Mountaire Farms. Sussex Superior Court Judge Richard F. Stokes has yet to sign off on the agreement, and the consent decree is not binding until he does.

Under the consent decree, Mountaire has agreed to pay a $600,000 penalty to the state which could be reduced if residents near the Millsboro poultry plant are hooked up to a private water supply facility or have deeper wells drilled by the company in an effort to improve their drinking water.

Once Stokes signs the order, Mountaire would have 10 days to submit an application for a construction permit for a new onsite wastewater treatment facility with a plan to complete the facility within two years. The order gives timelines for ongoing improvements that the plant has made following the 2017 failure of its wastewater treatment system. The plant has three months to remove solids from an oxidation ditch; 15 months to remove solids from lagoons; and 18 months to upgrade an offal room.

Brockstedt said his law firm has an unconditional right to be part of the consent decree based on the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and also the federal Clean Water Act. Brockstedt previously filed an RCRA violation against Mountaire for contaminating groundwater of hundreds of homes near the Route 24 plant. Brockstedt said residents have suffered health problems and reduced property values because of the plant's spray irrigation disposal of wastewater.

Mountaire's spray irrigation process to dispose of wastewater on area farmland has operated in violation of its permit and continues to exceed discharge more than the acceptable amount of 10 mg/l of nitrates into area well water, the suit states.

“Mountaire has disposed of billions of gallons of highly contaminated wastewater and liquefied sludge on lands near intervenors' residences,” the lawsuit states. “The wastewater and sludge has seeped into the groundwater throughout the area, causing nitrates to spread for miles and their concentrations to escalate to dangerously high levels.”

Mountaire has also caused air pollution that has affected residents, the lawsuit states.

“Mountaire's antiquated wastewater treatment facilities generate huge quantities of toxic and malodorous gases that are emitted to the atmosphere and travel to plaintiffs' homes and properties,” the lawsuit states. “Hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas that smells like rotten eggs, reaches most if not all of the plaintiff's properties at levels that exceed the Delaware standard of 0.03 ppm.”

In addition to the motion to intervene, a separate lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court to intervene in federal court action initiated by DNREC against Mountaire. The law firm requests the right to intervene for the same reasons as it is requesting the right to intervene in the Delaware Superior Court action regarding a consent agreement between Mountaire and DNREC.

“Mountaire negotiated a sweetheart deal with DNREC that absolves it from liability and does not require it to take responsibility, clean up its mess and improve its operations to eliminate further contamination and pollution. The DNREC/Mountaire deal, negotiated without any transparency, has a profound impact on the more than 700 clients our firm represents. Nevertheless, Mountaire and DNREC refused to allow those affected, our firm and, most importantly, our technical experts to have a voice and be part of the solution. The DNREC/Mountaire deal does nothing for area residents – most notably it lacks a plan to provide them with clean and safe drinking water. Imagine not being able to drink the water in your home, use it to cook and constantly worrying about bathing your children. Is this acceptable? Imagine having your property values destroyed as the chicken processing plant next door rakes in $2.6 billion per year. Is that being a good neighbor and corporate citizen?” Brockstedt said. “We intend to make Mountaire stop, change its behavior, hold it accountable and answer to our clients. The filings are important because they seek truth, transparency and accountability.”

Mountaire said it intends to defend itself against lawsuits and repeated its earlier statement.

“What we can say is it appears that the tactics by these plaintiffs groups is to grossly exaggerate the contributions from Mountaire regarding nitrate levels across Sussex County,” the company said. “Historically, elevated levels of nitrates is a very common widespread environmental condition due to decades of agricultural use, way before the arrival of Mountaire and certainly did not occur just in the past 18 years, much less the past eight months.”