LOCATION: Hanover Foods Facility, York County PA

 

STATUS: Resolved – Continued Oversight & Compliance Sweeps

 

ISSUE IN BRIEF: In 2021, our organization filed a federal lawsuit with representation by Environmental Integrity Project against Hanover Foods, a food processing facility in York County, for significant and ongoing violations of federal and state clean water laws. On September 30, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection filed a motion to intervene in our suit. On October ___, 2025, our organization, the agencies and Hanover Foods filed a consent decree in federal court that resolves the claims in our lawsuit and sets a framework for future compliance at the facility. Hanover Foods was fined $1.1 million in penalties for its violations and noncompliance.

 

THE LATEST:

PRESS RELEASE: PA Food Processing Plant Fined $1.1 Million for Pollution Violations in Chesapeake Tributary

 

Hanover Foods must pay $1.1 million in penalties and improve its wastewater treatment system as part of a consent decree filed in court on October ___, 2025. Fines and penalties are collected by the US Government and the PADEP, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeepers Association does not receive any monetary compensation.

 

Our consent decree outlines a framework for compliance at the plant and includes penalties if the facility violates the conditions of the consent decree. For example, Hanover Foods must install a new boiler and sensor for its wastewater treatment systems, use better maintenance procedures, inspect the equipment more frequently, monitor its effluent better, and operate its pollution control system at a temperature that works best for waste treatment. Learn more.

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BACKGROUND:

Hanover Foods, at 1550 York Street, in Hanover, violated its water pollution control permit on hundreds of occasions between 2016 and 2021, including by exceeding its limits for releasing pollution into Oil Creek, which flows to Codorus Creek, a popular fishing stream, and then the Susquehanna River, the Chesapeake Bay’s largest tributary.

 

The Hanover Foods facility makes canned, glass-packed, and frozen vegetables goods. During food processing operations, the facility produces industrial wastewater that is treated at an on-site wastewater treatment plant. Up to 450,000 gallons per day of the treated wastewater has been sent to Penn Township’s municipal wastewater treatment plant. Additional wastewater is treated onsite and discharged into nearby Oil Creek.

 

Between 2016 - 2021, Hanover Foods repeatedly discharged wastewater into Oil Creek at levels exceeding permitted limits of certain pollutants — including ammonia-nitrogen, fecal coliform, sediment, and oxygen-depleting materials. For example, the plant released 121,127 pounds of suspended solids into Oil Creek in 2020, which was 58 percent over its permitted limit, according to state records.

 

Our 4-year negotiations between federal and state agencies and Hanover Foods has resulted in a formal intervention by the agencies into our lawsuit and a consent decree that lays the foundation for compliance at the facility and incentives for keeping the plant operating efficiently.