Complaint follows notice letters citing violations involving chlorine; Industrial aquaculture giant sued over separate Columbia River pollution in July
Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC) late yesterday filed suit over more than three years of ongoing pollution of the Columbia River at a Pacific Bio Products facility in Warrenton, Oregon. That Pacific Bio Products – Warrenton facility is owned by seafood and aquaculture giant Pacific Seafood.
In the complaint, CFS and NEDC laid out how their members’ ability to live and recreate in close proximity to the facility has been seriously curtailed by Pacific Bio Products’s repeated violations, and how the facility’s refusal to abide by its permit prevents the plaintiff organizations from fulfilling their educational and advocacy missions.
In a notice letter sent in October and required before a Clean Water Act action, the groups allege that the facility in question has been in repeat and ongoing violation of its Oregon Department of Environmental Quality permit’s pollution discharge, monitoring, and reporting requirements. Yesterday’s complaint alleges that since April 2022, Pacific has violated its permit at least 6,180 times. Many of the alleged violations are egregious, including monthly average total residual chlorine discharges over 4,000% of the permit’s limits, and as recently as August 2025, a discharge of over 73,000% of the permit’s daily chlorine limit.
“Pacific Seafood has unlawfully and irresponsibly offloaded the costs of its operations onto the environment and local community for years,” said Kingsly A. McConnell, Staff Attorney at Center for Food Safety. “Polluting industrial aquaculture facilities like this one significantly damage the environment and public health. Through this lawsuit, we are demanding accountability.”
The Warrenton facility is used to manufacture bulk seafood products including fishmeal and shrimp and crab shell products that are used as (or in) aquaculture and livestock feed pet food additives, and fish oils. CFS and NEDC are representing themselves and are also represented by FarmSTAND and the Law Office of Karl G. Anuta, P.C.
“For years, Pacific Seafood has reported discharge data showing it is consistently violating pollution limits in its Clean Water Act permit,” said Jonah Sandford, Executive Director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center. “These pollution limits are in place to protect sensitive fish and aquatic life, as well as communities that depend on a healthy Columbia River. The hundreds of violations alleged in the Complaint show that the facility is causing real harm to this treasured ecosystem that must be stopped.”
Pacific Seafood and its subsidiaries are a leading market force in confined industrial fish farming operations, and have been polluting the Columbia River for years across multiple facilities, despite public claims about the sustainability of its practices. In July of this year, Center for Food Safety and Wild Fish Conservancy, in conjunction with Kampmeier & Knutsen, PLLC, filed a lawsuit against another Pacific Seafood-owned company for multiple violations of the Clean Water Act at three commercial net-pen aquaculture facilities on the Columbia River raising rainbow trout.
“The law demands that this facility face consequences for many years of egregious pollution of the Columbia River,” said Holly Bainbridge, Senior Staff Attorney at FarmSTAND and counsel for the groups bringing yesterday’s action. “The industrialized form of aquaculture championed by Pacific Seafood can only continue to grow if no one enforces the law, making citizen suits like this one essential in this moment.”
Industrial aquaculture has quickly become one of the most significant threats to waters across the U.S., and to the health of aquatic organisms, endangered species, and humans.
Industrial aquaculture facilities like the one at issue in this suit pose serious environmental risks and socioeconomic impacts to affected communities — especially traditional and indigenous fishing cultures. They can discharge large volumes of untreated waste into waterways, including excess nutrients, heavy metals, antibiotics, and chemicals. Chronic fish spills, caused by equipment failure, human error, or weather, are among the worst causes of harm. Escaped fish harm wild species like vulnerable salmon by competing for food and habitat, spreading viruses and disease, and inbreeding, thus reducing genetic diversity and resilience. The adverse ecological impacts of these facilities can thus lead to lasting effects on surrounding wildlife.