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Illinois sues dairy over fish-killing sewage runoff

chesbayprogram
/
Associated Press

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - A central Illinois dairy faces a lawsuit, which claims runoff from the operation's septic system killed hundreds of thousands of fish.

 
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office filed the lawsuit last month against Stone Ridge Dairy, which is located south of the village of Bellflower.
 

The state is seeking more than $7,000 to cover the investigation and the destruction of fish and aquatic life in Lone Tree Creek.

 
A phone message left by The Associated Press at the dairy seeking comment on the lawsuit was not immediately returned.
 

The lawsuit says raw sewage was released into the creek on three separate occasions from 2003 through 2010.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources estimates contamination from the runoff killed more than 200,000 fish.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.