Dairy Charged With Dumping 2 Million Gallons of Cow Waste

Nearly 2 million gallons of cow waste were illegally dumped from a Nevada dairy, snaking eight miles into a national park and river in California, according to an indictment Thursday.

“As far as I know, it’s the biggest dairy waste spill in the western United States,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard J. Cutler, lead prosecutor in the case.

Court papers show that 1.7 million gallons of cow waste were released from the Ponderosa Dairy over two days, flowing through Death Valley National Park and reaching the Amargosa River in Inyo County.

The dairy’s parent company, Rockview Farms, and its manager, Eric Goedhart, each face a $500,000 fine after being charged under the Clean Water Act with illegally discharging pollutants into U.S. waters.

Goedhart, 36, also faces three years in prison on that count, and another five years for falsely blaming a former employee for the discharge, prosecutors said.

Arraignment was set for Oct. 8.

“Whenever the EPA is involved with anything, obviously they want to get some press,” Goedhart said.

He referred further questions to his attorney, Stephen Onstot, who also represents Downey-based Rockview. Onstot said he had not seen the indictment and could not comment until he did.

Ponderosa Dairy covers 500 to 600 acres in Amargosa Valley, Nev., which straddles the California border about 50 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Its 5,000 cows produce more than 30,000 gallons of milk a day.

The investigation of the dairy was conducted in March, prompted by complaints from residents, Cutler said.

“They smelled it. They saw it,” he said.