Federal Trial Begins in Center for Food Safety Lawsuit Challenging River Pollution from Industrial Dairy

Case Tests Whether Factory Farms Will Be Held Accountable Under the Clean Water Act

SYRACUSE, N.Y., July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, a federal trial begins in Center for Food Safety's lawsuit against Wood Farms LLC, a large industrial dairy in northern New York that is accused of polluting waterways that flow into the St. Lawrence River. The lawsuit alleges Wood Farms has unlawfully discharged pollutants over 1,000 times to Wheeler Creek and the St. Lawrence River since 2018. The St. Lawrence River holds deep historical and cultural significance to local communities and Indigenous peoples, and it plays a vital role in transportation, fishing, and recreation in the region.

Over the last several decades, industrial animal agriculture has grown larger and more concentrated. Despite federal and state laws designed to protect the environment from these operations, the enormous volume of animal waste produced by the industry is one of the nation's leading causes of water pollution. CFS has fought to hold massive factory farms accountable for their pollution for decades, securing court victories that held mega dairies liable for contaminating local communities' drinking water and for even failing to comply with court orders to address their pollution after the fact.

In March of 2023, CFS filed suit against Wood Farms, alleging the factory farm has repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act by discharging manure, process wastewater, and other pollutants into surrounding waterways, improperly applying manure during wet weather and winter conditions, and failing to comply with permit requirements designed to protect water quality. CFS seeks court orders requiring the dairy to halt unlawful pollution, remediate environmental damage, comply with the Clean Water Act, and pay civil penalties authorized by law. CFS is represented by the Law Office of Charles M. Tebbutt, Public Justice, Don Spurrell Law, and in-house counsel.

Massive factory farms like this rely on a business model that privatizes profits while socializing costs of pollution," said Kingsly A. McConnell, Staff Attorney for Center for Food Safety and counsel in the case. "Communities pay the price through contaminated drinking water, polluted rivers, algal blooms, and declining fisheries. Congress passed the Clean Water Act to prevent this kind of industrial pollution. This case is about making sure that law means something," he continued.

"We look forward to presenting the facts to the Court and preventing further risks to the community and the St. Lawrence River," stated Charlie Tebbutt, counsel for Center for Food Safety.

"While the Clean Water Act permit for this facility is supposedly a 'no discharge' permit, the facts on the ground show Wood Farms discharges manure and related pollutants every time it rains above a specific threshold," said Dan Snyder, Director of the Environmental Enforcement Project at Public Justice. "Water quality sampling consistently shows extremely high levels of E. coli, total coliform, and other pollutants discharging from the site into public waters. These pollutants jeopardize not just the recreational uses of downstream waters like the St. Lawrence River but also represent a distinct threat to public health."

The lawsuit centers on a dairy that confines more than 3,000 dairy cows and generates millions of pounds of manure each year. Water sampling, photographs, expert testimony, and other evidence demonstrate an ongoing pattern of manure pollution entering streams and tributaries, which ultimately flow into the internationally significant waters of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario.

Factory farms can generate waste on a scale comparable to cities but lack equivalent wastewater treatment systems. Industrial dairy CAFOs like Wood Farms produce the equivalent waste of a city of more than 400,000 people. The liquid and solid manure is often spread across fields and, if improperly managed, carry nitrogen, phosphorus, pathogens, bacteria, antibiotics, and other contaminants into nearby waterways and groundwater. The resulting pollution threatens drinking water, fisheries, recreation, biodiversity, and public health.

CFS has challenged the unchecked expansion of industrial animal agriculture through litigation, scientific and regulatory advocacy, and legislative reform. CFS believes that meaningful enforcement of environmental laws is essential to protecting clean water, supporting small farmers and sustainable agriculture, and ensuring that industrial livestock producers cannot continue treating shared waterways as waste disposal systems.

SOURCE The Center For Food Safety