Darigold to pay $2 million to settle Clean Water Act lawsuit

Darigold will pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Columbia Riverkeeper accusing it of discharging too much pollution from its milk processing plant in Sunnyside, Wash. Darigold will make the payment to the Yakama Nation to fund water-quality projects, according to the settlement, which must be approved by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pennell in Spokane. The cooperative, headquartered in Seattle and owned by about 300 dairy farmers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, did not admit to any of the allegations and denied causing any environmental harm. “In the interest of maintaining strong relations with our many partners and stakeholders in Sunnyside and surrounding areas, we are pleased to have reached a resolution to this matter and to put it behind us,” Darigold said in a statement. “Darigold continually evaluates and upgrades its wastewater treatment facilities and has made improvements to our wastewater treatment system over the last year, with additional ...