Campbell Soup Supply Company, LLC has agreed not to contest claims that its Ohio facility violated the Clean Water Act more than 5,400 times over a 6 and a half-year period, leading to pollution in a river that feeds into Lake Erie.
On Monday, Sept. 15, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Campbell's, known for its array of soups, acknowledged that its plant in Napoleon, Ohio, went over discharge or waste limits imposed by the Clean Water Act.
The agreement was listed in a stipulation Campbell's filed with two environmentalist groups, Environment America and Lake Erie Waterkeeper, which sued the company in March 2024, court records obtained by USA TODAY show.
The National Environmental Law Center, which represents the groups, argues in the lawsuit that the soup manufacturer violated the Clean Water Act over 5,400 times between April 2018 and December 2024, leading to ammonia, E. coli, total residual chlorine, phosphorus, pH, oil and grease entering the waterway.
The waste from the Campbell's facility enters the Maumee River, which flows into Lake Erie, the lawyers for the environmental groups said in a Sept. 15 news release.
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"Pollution flowing into western Lake Erie from the Maumee River, containing Campbell’s phosphorus discharges, contributes to the lake’s toxic algal blooms," said Sandy Bihn, a Lake Erie Waterkeeper, in the release.
On Thursday, Sept. 18, Campbell's said in a statement to USA TODAY that the company has taken steps to comply with environmental regulations. According to the company, it has been part of the Napoleon community since 1938, and the facility in question has had minimal impact on the Maumee River or Lake Erie.
Lawsuit alleges Campbell's violated Clean Water Act permits 5,468 times
The facility at the center of the 2024 lawsuit is Campbell’s Napoleon plant, located about 46 miles southwest of Toledo, Ohio.
Environment Ohio, an environmental organization advocating for clean air and water, and Lake Erie Waterkeeper, which advocates for swimmable, drinkable and fishable waters in the Lake Erie watershed, initiated the lawsuit.
The complaint alleges that Campbell's violated the Clean Water Act, which grants agencies and businesses permits to discharge chemicals and minerals into U.S. waters. The act sets limits for these discharges, calling the companies or agencies responsible "point sources." In this case, the environmental advocates argued that Campbell's Ohio plant was a major point source for chemicals in the Maumee River.
The lawsuit, as well as the Sept. 15 stipulation, contains data showing how many pollutant discharges Campbell's reported between 2018 and 2024, said John Rumpler, clean water director at Environment America.
According to the complaint, the groups say the soup company violated the act 5,468 times in total. Rumpler said that the joint stipulation filing illustrates the Campbell Soup Company is "admitting this is what we put into the water."
Rumpler added that Campbell's needs to figure out what needs to be done to "clean up their operations and prevent further exceedances of the permit limits." Additionally, he said the penalty amount for the company violating the law needs to be figured out.
How do these pollutants impact the environment?
According to Rumpler, one of the main pollutants the environmental groups are concerned about is phosphorus, which can lead to toxic algae.
"It's this nasty, green slime that covers a huge portion of the western part of Lake Erie," he said. "It is incredibly toxic to humans and wildlife and pets."
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that too much phosphorus can lead to excess algae growth, contributing to dissolved oxygen levels, harmful algal toxins and a lack of sunlight for plants and animals in the water, as well as degraded habitat conditions for aquatic life.
According to the EPA, phosphorus enters rivers and streams, lakes and coastal waters due to fertilizers, runoff from urban areas, leaking septic systems or discharges from wastewater treatment plants.
The Ohio EPA said in a June 2023 technical report that the average amount of discharges permitted daily is 10 million gallons per day. Between spring 2017 and spring 2021, Campbell's daily flows averaged 5.5 million gallons per day.
Rumpler said cities and towns, farmers and companies like Campbell's must do their part to stay within their permitted discharge limits, something he said the soup company has acknowledged they’ve got to do a better job of.
"They know this is a problem," Rumpler said. "They know that they need to solve it. It is a question of exactly how much money is going to be involved and what do they need to do to ensure that this pollution comes down to where it needs to be."
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at [email protected].