Churchill Downs Louisiana Horseracing Company, the owners of the New Orleans Fair Grounds, agrees in a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, to stop dumping untreated wastewater containing horse manure and urine, into the city’s storm drainage system.
The settlement alleges Fair Grounds has been dumping untreated wastewater into the drainage system since at least 2012.
“We are pleased to announce an agreement with Churchill Downs to address years of Clean Water Act violations at its Fair Grounds Racetrack in New Orleans,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Brightbill of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
“This consent decree will halt discharges of manure, urine, and contaminated wastewater from the Fair Grounds racetrack into the London Avenue Canal, which flows into Lake Pontchartrain,” said Susan Bodine, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
“As a result, we are protecting opportunities by the community to use these waters for fishing and other recreational activities.”
The EPA alleges the racetrack dumped wastewater into the city’s storm drainage system on more than 250 times between 2012 and 2018.
During a typical horse racing season, Fair Grounds stables as many as 1,800 horses or more at one time according to Justice Department.
The settlement also requires Fair Grounds to pay a civil penalty of $2,790,000, the largest ever paid by an animal care operation according to the DOJ.
