Michigan food processor found liable for pollution entering Elk Lake

ELK RAPIDS, MI — A federal judge has ruled that a northern Michigan food processor illegally polluted wetlands and tributaries that ultimately drain to Lake Michigan, handing conservation groups and tribes a landmark clean water victory.

In a Nov. 12 opinion, U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering found Burnette Foods liable under the Clean Water Act for discharging pollutants into wetlands connected to Spencer Creek, a groundwater-fed tributary that drains into Elk Lake and ultimately Grand Traverse Bay.

Beckering granted summary judgment to a group of plaintiffs led by the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, who sued in 2023 alleging that wastewater sprayed on fields near Elk Rapids was seeping into wetlands and surface waters without a discharge permit.

In a 40-page opinion, Beckering