by Rod Hughes

Dos Pinos, the dairy products giant that not only has the lion´s share of the Costa Rican market for milk, ICE cream, etc. but is an exporter of these products, has been fined $150,000 by the Administrative Envrionment Tribunal, reported the newspaper La Nacion today. The fine is for greasy waste water dumped in 2007 into the Siquirres River

For Dos Pino, the indemnization is simply petty cash but the damage to public relations is sizable. For years, the cooperative company´s advertising has cultivated a green image of cows contentedly munching grass in lush patures. But a Ministry of Health laboratory test of the river water confirmed suspicions that the milk processing plant was polluting the Siquirres.

Dos Pinos general manager Jorge Pattoni told the newspaper that the unclean water escaped on only two occasions last year and that recent tests show the river is now uneffected. The fine money will be used to buy land on which the neighbors hope to establish a refuse recycling plant.