Georgia farm fine points to complaints on farm-sprayed waste

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division fined McAvoy Farms, also known as Mar Leta Farms, $5,000 after nearly 1,700 fish died in the Little River in Wilkes County on June 16. The state found that 1.2 million gallons of sludge and other food byproducts overflowed a lagoon and into a creek over a six-week period. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

A Georgia dairy farm has been fined after a release of food waste caused a fish kill, a rare instance of government getting involved with a practice that counties can’t regulate despite chronic complaints from residents.

WAGA-TV reports the Georgia Environmental Protection Division fined McAvoy Farms, also known as Mar Leta Farms, $5,000 after nearly 1,700 fish died in the Little River in Wilkes County on June 16.

The division found that 1.2 million gallons of sludge and other food byproducts overflowed a lagoon into a farm pond and then to a creek over a six-week period.