The brewing and wine group Foster’s has run into trouble with an environmental organisation in the US, with allegations that its Beringer wine subsidiary has polluted a river.
A lawsuit has been lodged by Northern California River Watch in the federal court in San Francisco. It holds that Beringer has discharged pollutants into the Russian River, in Sonoma, California, which is in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.
The news service Bloomberg has reported that River Watch is attempting to force Beringer to pay $US27,500 a day for each violation. It also wants the wine company to acquire permits to comply with the Clean Water Act.
The accusation states that industrial run-off seeps into the river from the wine facilities during times of heavy rain. River Watch apparently has written to Beringer, saying the company’s waste-water ponds were unlined and lay next to the Russian River.
Foster’s is not the first Australian wine group to fall foul of environmental groups in the recent past. Late last month BRL Hardy admitted guilt on four counts of dumping effluent in Australia without official permission and faces fines of up to A$480,000 (US$288,000).
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By GlobalData
