SAN JOSE, Calif. — The nation’s largest mushroom grower has agreed to pay $2.24 million to settle an environmental protection lawsuit brought by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The company, Watsonville-based Monterey Mushrooms Inc., was accused of polluting a South Bay creek with manure for years, despite orders and warnings dating back to the 1980s.
The judgment, the largest for a water pollution lawsuit in county history, will be used in part to restore the damaged Fisher Creek, a 14-mile long ephemeral stream that flows into Coyote Creek, through the Coyote Valley of southern Santa Clara County, then into the San Francisco Bay.
