By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer

David Ryan, the owner of Hood River Juice Company, entered a not guilty plea last week to eight felony charges that have been filed against him.

Judge Paul Crowley then set the date for the defendant’s two-week jury trial. The court proceedings will take place Oct. 13-16 and continue Oct. 20-23.

Ryan’s attorney, David Angeli of Portland, has lost his bid to have the case dismissed. In January, he challenged the “legal sufficiency” of the charges brought against his client by Deputy District Attorney Kate Stebbins.

She is asking the court to penalize Ryan for six counts of polluting public waterways and two counts of supplying false information to a regulatory agent.

Stebbins, a specialist in environmental law, is working on the Ryan case in cooperation with the state Department of Environmental Quality. The agency requested that she file criminal charges after Ryan allegedly failed to comply with a series of enforcement actions.

Last fall, DEQ revoked Ryan’s standard permit to discharge wastewater. Instead, he was asked to pay $12,672 for a customized permit that would draw greater oversight.

Carl Nadler from The Dalles DEQ office informed Ryan of the need for an individual permit in an Oct. 31, 2008, letter. He said further regulation was necessary because HRJC had been cited four times between 1998 and 2008 for unpermitted discharges from its manufacturing plant at 1590 Country Club Road.

The result of these discharges, said Nadler, was that a nearby irrigation ditch had been subjected to algal growths and anaerobic odors that drew complaints from water users and residents.

Nadler also asked Ryan to submit an updated plan for wastewater management and disposal activities at the plant.

In a Jan. 24, 2009, published statement, Ryan said that he had “worked cooperatively” with DEQ and local governments to ensure that the growth of his company did not negatively affect the environment.