Ganaderos Borges, a meat production company in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, filed evidence in the federal court in San Juan of measures it has taken since an August federal indictment for polluting bodies of water. In a motion by the company’s attorney, Richard Danosh, the firm submitted documents to show it has complied with a judge’s order setting conditions for it to keep operating while the case proceeds.
The defense reported that the machine that pumped wastewater into a stream that carries it to the sea was removed last month by an agent of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with the company’s assistance. Danosh also reported that the company has contracts with waste hauler EC Waste and with the Peñuelas Valley Landfill.
The documents show 63 trips that hauled 531,500 gallons of used water between August and September. The company also delivered copies of permits obtained from the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA) and the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA), among others. In August, Ganaderos Borges had asked for more time to demonstrate compliance.
The company, its owner and three other employees face charges for allegedly discharging animal waste water into a nearby stream leading to the sea. Separately, at the end of September, residents of several Coamo sectors complained of odors they attribute to a cattle farm in Quebrada Grande. Coamo Mayor Juan Carlos García Padilla named César Borges, of Ganaderos Borges, as the new owner of those farms and said the town sent letters on September 16 to DRNA and the Health Department requesting inspections, and asked Agriculture to intervene the next day.
El Nuevo Día sought comment from the Health Department and tried to reach Borges, but received no response.