Napa Valley landfill dumped toxic waste into waterways for decades, workers allege in federal lawsuit

A California landfill has been illegally dumping toxic waste into the Napa River for years, polluting waters that feed a valley known around the world for the quality of its vineyards, according to a federal lawsuit filed by landfill employees.

Fifteen workers from Clover Flat Landfill and Upper Valley Disposal Service (UVDS) in Napa County, California, allege that operators of the landfill intentionally diverted what is called “leachate” – untreated liquid wastewater often containing heavy metals, nitrates, bacteria and pathogens – into the Napa River and other area waterways for decades. The actions were done to “avoid the costs of properly trucking out the toxic leachate” to facilities designated for safe disposal, the lawsuit alleges.

“Defendants’ deliberate pollution of the Napa River watershed with toxic wastewater is particularly disturbing because Napa Valley contains some of the most valuable agricultural land in the country, and water from the Napa River is used by local wineries to irrigate Napa’s famous vineyards, and is a significant community water resource,” the complaint said.

The workers say the practice not only endangered the public but created unsafe working conditions, exposing the employees to “toxic chemicals, pollution, and poisons” without providing employees proper protective gear.

The action, which was filed Oct. 28 in US District Court in San Francisco, seeks more than $500 million in damages and names as defendants both current owner Waste Connections, a nationwide waste management company, as well as the facilities’ former owners.

Ron Mittelstaedt, CEO of Waste Connections, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Before selling Clover Flat and UVDS last year, former chief operating officer Christina Pestoni Abreu said in a statement that the company’s operations met “the highest environmental standards” and were in full legal and regulatory compliance. Abreu, who is currently Director of Government Affairs at Waste Connections, could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit comes after Napa County officials confirmed in September that Clover Flat landfill plans to close.  A Waste Connections representative also recently confirmed the closure.

The landfill and the related disposal service, which handles recycling and other ancillary operations, have been under scrutiny from local environmental and public health advocates, in part because toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals have been found in a creek that flows near the landfill and in all samples of the landfill’s groundwater and liquid wastewater.

A coalition of local activists and nonprofit groups demanded Clover Flat’s closure, citing concerns about the landfill’s numerous regulatory violations, environmental impact and social justice issues.

“Ghost pipes”

To dispose of the leachate, the defendants allegedly forced employees to run a network of underground “ghost pipes,” which were used to secretly drain the toxic wastewater into nearby waterways, according the lawsuit.

The employees also allege that their employers ordered them to spray the polluted water on compost, which was labeled as “organic” and sold or donated to community members or used to manufacture grapeseed oil. Companies sold the grapeseed oil for cooking or used it to manufacture cosmetics, according to the complaint, potentially exposing the broader public to the toxic chemicals.

The defendants also allegedly ordered employees to spray the toxic leachate on dirt roads leading into the facilities for “dust control,” use it to wash down trash trucks and heavy machinery, and dump it along rural highways in Napa Valley.

The workers allege that when they complained to their supervisors about these practices, their complaints were disregarded and they suffered retaliation.

The lawsuit also alleges that while the facilities were not designated to accept hazardous waste such as syringes, human blood and excrement, they did so anyway, including taking in even radioactive military waste.

Many of the allegations are similar to those presented to federal and state agencies in a formal complaint filed by 23 former and then-current Clover Flat and UVDS employees last year.

Clover Flat has been issued a number of violations by multiple different agencies. In 2019, the landfill received a “cleanup and abatement order” from state officials, which reported a pipeline running from the landfill directly into the creek.

Three years later, a joint investigation by the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board), the Napa County District Attorney’s Office and California Department of Fish and Wildlife found that the landfill had allegedly discharged 40,000 gallons of contaminated stormwater into a nearby stream, resulting in a civil penalty of $619,400.

The Water Board said in August that it was conducting an active investigation of Clover Flat.

(Featured image by Stan Shebs, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.)