CLEVELAND, Ohio– Even the classic Campbell’s Soup kids may be leery of being in or on the Maumee River and Lake Erie after the D.O.J.-E.P.A and environmental advocacy groups sued the company for contaminating the river and lake with wastewater discharges from the Campbell’s canning plant. “M’m, M’m Good” is now “M’m, M’m Gross”…”M’m, M’m Grime.
Campbell’s canning plant in Napoleon, Ohio sits right above the banks of the Maumee River that feeds into Lake Erie downstream for it.
The Department of Justice sued Campbell’s on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency. In conjunction, the National Environmental Law Center sued the soup company on behalf of Lake Erie Waterkeeper and Environment Ohio. It’s suit with crackers.
Each suit contends that since 2018 the Campbell’s canning factory has had thousands of Clean Water Act violations by regularly discharging high levels of phosphorous, E.coli bacteria, oil, grease and other pollutants into the river flowing into the lake.
Phosphorus has contributed to the algae blooms that have been plaguing Lake Erie from the western basin.
The Lawsuits seek court ordered permanent changes, fines and penalties to be imposed,
Campbell’s has responded that they are working on a new wastewater treatment facility for the factory.
“We take this matter very seriously. We will continue to take immediate action to address this and have capital investments planned to resolve this issue permanently. We will continue to work with regulators and other environmental regulations.”
There’s no demand for Campbell’s Wastewater, Pollution, Green Toxic Algae or Sewage Soup. And the cleanup can can’t be kicked down the road or into the river.
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