2019 Mulberry Fork fish kill

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Photograph of the fish kill by Nelson Brooke.

The 2019 Mulberry Fork fish kill was an industrial accident and environmental disaster that occurred on June 6, 2019 at the Tyson Inc.'s River Valley Ingredients chicken rendering plant in Hanceville.

A temporary pipe system installed to pump wastewater from one holding pond to another ruptured and spilled more than 200,000 gallons of water contaminated with processed chicken offal into Dave Young Creek, which then emptied into the nearby Mulberry Fork, a tributary of the Black Warrior River. The spill caused bacteria levels in the river to spike. The bacteria consumed a large amount of the oxygen in the water, causing fish and other aquatic life to asphyxiate. The death and decay of smaller fish fed the cycle, which then affected predators and other species dependent on the balance of the immediate ecosystem.

Although difficult to quantify, the most common estimate of the number of fish killed by the spill has been reported as ranging from 175,000 to more than 200,000. The spill rendered a 50-mile stretch of the river "unusable" for recreation, fishing or as a source of drinking water.

In April 2020 the State of Alabama filed a lawsuit against Tyson Farms in Walker County Circuit Court, alleging that the company, "engaged in negligent and wanton conduct by causing a public nuisance, committing a trespass to State land, and by committing a trespass to chattel, resulting in the death of various species of fish and other wildlife."

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management surveyed the condition of the river and joined with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Attorney General Steve Marshall in a civil suit against Tyson. The case was settled in August 2021 with an agreement for Tyson to pay $1.5 million in restitution to the state and to create a separate $1.5 million fund for projects to benefit Walker and Cullman County.

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