An Elk Rapids fruit processing company in northwest Lower Michigan has for years violated the federal Clean Water Act and related state environmental laws as waste products sprayed onto nearby fields are reaching wetlands, a creek and Elk Lake, which flows into Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay, a federal judge has found.

Burnette Foods Inc. of Elk Rapids "has polluted and impaired groundwater beneath its spray fields and surface water connected to and downstream from its spray fields, in violation of" Michigan Law, U.S. District Judge Jane M. Beckering stated in a Nov. 12 order granting a motion for summary judgement − meaning the judge agreed to decide the case without a trial − in favor of three groups who sued the fruit and vegetable processor over its pollution: the Elk-Skegemog Lak

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