Hammond seafood processor Point Adams Packing Co. has been fined $75,000 for allowing chicken remains to be illegally dumped into the Columbia River for about six months in 2003-04.

U.S. District Court Judge Garr M. King levied the fine Monday – one year after the California Shellfish Co., doing business as Point Adams Packing Co., pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act.

Last year, Astoria resident Thomas E. Libby, the former manager of the Hammond facility, was sentenced to one year of probation and charged a $3,250 fine for a misdemeanor violation in the case. Libby pleaded guilty to negligently allowing the pollutant discharge in violation of Oregon Department of Environmental Quality permit conditions.

California Spray Dry, doing business as Modesto Tallow, was also charged $75,000 in February for its role in the violation. Both companies will be on probation for three years.

“Corporations that don’t play by the rules will be held accountable, Karin Immergut, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, said in an e-mailed statement. “We are pleased that the corporation, as part of its criminal penalty, will contribute to protecting the environment here in Oregon.”

The U.S. Department of Justice says more than a third of the $75,000 fine to Point Adams Packing Co. will be placed in the National Fish and Wildlife Fund, and will help pay for environmental projects in the state.

According to court documents, Modesto Tallow Co., a chicken rendering business from Modesto, Calif., leased a portion of the Point Adams processing plant in Hammond. In December 2003, the company began processing chicken carcasses at the facility and discharging chicken waste into the Columbia River. The dumping continued until June 2004.

California Spray Dry intended to process chicken carcasses at the Point Adams facility for the production of various by-products including flavoring for pet foods. But neither company applied to modify Point Adams’ seafood wastewater discharge permit to allow for chicken waste discharges.

The Environmental Protection Agency was prompted to investigate the matter as a result of complaints from several neighbors about odors from the discharges.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office found the discharge was made with consent and assistance from Point Adams’ parent company, California Shellfish, using a permit from DEQ that only allowed the discharge of seafood waste.

“The permit in no way authorized the discharge of chicken waste, and both defendant companies knew and understood this fact,” court documents state.

As the facility manager, documents state, Libby “aided and abetted the illegal discharge of chicken parts into the Columbia.”

In June 2004, after receiving an anonymous tip, three Portland-based environmental groups – Northwest Environmental Defense Center, Columbia Riverkeeper and Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center – pledged to sue Point Adams and two other companies involved in the illegal discharge for $30 million.

They argued the environmental and public health damage was grave, as pollutants in chicken waste can include fecal coliform, fecal streptococcus, E. coli bacteria, oil and grease. Volunteers from an environmental group sampled discharge from the plant and found bacteria that exceeded Oregon’s water quality standards.

The group contacted the Environmental Protection Agency, which conducted a search of the facility in early June 2004.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton, who prosecuted the case, said the environmental groups “played a vital role in bringing this to our attention and bringing justice to the case.”

In September 2004, Point Adams and Modesto Tallow parent company California Spray Dry Co. of Stockton, Calif., agreed to pay $100,000 apiece to avoid a lawsuit from conservation groups.

The funds from the settlement went to regional environmental conservation projects. The Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST) received $80,000 for work in the Skipanon watershed, where the processing plant is located.