The Center for Food Safety says that Cloverleaf Dairy on the Big Island has been knowingly polluting the ocean with animal and milk waste for years. Hawaii’s last remaining dairy is facing potential legal action from a national environmental advocacy organization that is accusing the the 350-cow Cloverleaf Dairy of violating federal law. In a 12-page letter of intent to sue delivered last month, the California-based Center for Food Safety lists numerous allegations against the Big Island dairy, saying that the operation has been polluting nearshore waters with animal waste and could be causing a public health threat.
Federal law requires a 60-day notice of intent to sue and the center says in the letter it will file the case in Hawaii federal court in October. “There are serious violations of federal law which are going on that put the ocean at risk and it’s our intent to make sure that they stop,” Charles Tebbutt, a Seattle attorney with the center, said. But dairy owner Bahman Sadeghi says the center’s list of complaints is riddled with inaccuracies, speculation and some “absolutely false” accusations.
Sadeghi plans to put up a fight. The letter names Sadeghi, Cloverleaf Dairy and Meadow Gold, which he also owns, as defendants. The center alleges that Sadeghi’s operations have breached the Clean Water Act and Resource Protection and Recovery Act by discharging animal waste into the streams, groundwater and the Pacific Ocean.
It also says that Sadeghi has bee.