A large Panton dairy farm with a history of pollution problems is facing a new lawsuit for allegedly dumping pesticides — without a permit — into a tributary of Lake Champlain.
Two environmental groups, Conservation Law Foundation and Vermont Natural Resources Council, notified the owners of Vorsteveld farm on Thursday of their intent to sue. The conservation groups claim the farm’s waste practices violate the federal Clean Water Act.
Several pipes from the Vorsteveld farm discharge water into Dead Creek, which runs through Lower Otter Creek and into Lake Champlain, said Elena Mihaly, vice president for Conservation Law Foundation’s Vermont chapter.
Over the past two years, the environmental groups have sampled and tested the water coming from these pipes.
“What we found were repeated, alarming levels of several toxic pesticides,” Mihaly said. “Under the Clean Water Act, you cannot discharge a pollutant from a pipe into water without a permit. And this farm does not have that permit.”
The groups found “dangerous levels” of multiple pollutants, including atrazine, a toxic herbicide that was documented at 50 times what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for drinking water. More than 165,000 people drink water that comes from Lake Champlain, Mihaly said.
“That’s why the pesticide levels we saw were so alarming,” she said. “We felt compelled to act.”
The farm has 60 days to respond or correct the groups’ claims before they file the lawsuit, pursuant to the Clean Water Act’s procedures.
The Addison County farm, owned by Rudy, Hans and Gerard Vorsteveld, already has a lengthy record of environmental violations.
That includes dredging and filling wetlands without a permit and allowing agricultural waste to flow into a tributary of Dead Creek. In 2021, the farm agreed to pay $21,750 to settle the combined state enforcement actions.
In May, the Vermont Supreme Court upheld a prior decision holding the farm in contempt of court for failing to stop runoff from flowing across a neighbor’s land.
And last summer, the EPA also sued the Vorstevelds, saying the farm destroyed wetlands and discharged pollutants in violation of the Clean Water Act. That case is pending in federal court. The Vorstevelds, through their attorney, have denied the civil charges.
They could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.
Despite these issues, state regulators recently approved the farm’s bid to expand by adding 580 animals to their roughly 1,500 mature cows and 1,500 young stock. The expansion is estimated to produce an additional 6.1 million gallons of liquid manure annually, according to the farm’s application.
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