DENVER – Environmental groups threatened legal action against JBS USA and Swift Beef Co. for allegedly dumping pollutants from processing plants into Colorado waterways in violation of wastewater permits.

In a notice of violations and intent to sue, the Center for Biological Diversity and Food & Water Watch claim that the Lone Tree Wastewater Treatment Plant has illegally dumped 4 million gallons of wastewater each year from two processing plants located along the Front Range at the confluence of the South Platte and Cache la Poudre Rivers. The notice gives JBS USA 60 days to resolve the alleged violations.

The notice “…follows chronic violations of Lone Tree’s Clean Water Act permit. The facility, maintained by JBS USA and the Swift Beef Company in the city of Greeley, processes animal fat, meat, pathogens, ammonia and excrement,” the groups said in a statement. “Its violations include failing to meet toxicity testing standards for discharged waste, unpermitted discharges of total suspended solids and ammonia nitrogen and failing to report violations.”