Nearly 11,000 fish die downstream from embattled Maryland dairy farm

Downstream from an embattled northeast Maryland dairy farm, a beloved creek this week again brimmed with dead fish — this time, thousands of them.

The fish kill in Basin Run comes in the middle of a state lawsuit against Kilby Farms, a dairy operation in Cecil County, over repeated discharges of manure and other harmful liquids into the waterway. Just over a year ago, state inspectors say, releases from Kilby Farms property killed hundreds of fish in Basin Run, and a Cecil County judge is set to preside over a hearing in the case in less than two weeks.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of the Environment said in a statement Friday that inspectors estimate nearly 11,000 fish died across 25 species, with preliminary findings suggesting the die-off was caused by an overflow at a Kilby Farms manure lagoon.

MDE sued Kilby Farms and an associated real estate company this year over failures to comply with a 2025 settlement to end discharges of foul liquid into Basin Run. The waterway, which is beloved by locals for its population of wild trout, flows west through Cecil County before emptying into the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay.

The agency has since asked a judge to hold the dairy farm in civil contempt over continued violations.

Neighbors downstream from the farm have witnessed a putrid sludge wash through Basin Run periodically for years, and this week some took to social media to express frustration at the latest incident.

Neither the owner of the dairy operation, Pennsylvania farmer Ben Flahart, nor his attorney responded to phone calls or text messages about the fish kill. Attorney Anthony Gorski has argued that many issues on the Kilby Farms property date back decades but have attracted scrutiny only since Flahart took over in 2017. Gorski said in a recent interview he hasn’t seen proof the incidents in Basin Run were caused by Kilby Farms.

Chris Thomas, a neighbor who grew up on Basin Run and still lives alongside it, learned about the latest incident Wednesday afternoon and rushed home to find thousands of dead fish floating in the water, including tiny minnows and more resilient species such as trout and eels.

An avid fisherman, Thomas once described a Basin Run fish kill from a year ago as the “worst environmental thing” he’d ever seen. After seeing the waterway this week, he said nothing compares.

“I thought what I’d seen last time was unspeakable,” he said, “but this, I don’t even have the words.”

Thomas donned waders Thursday to assess the stream with MDE inspectors. He said the foamy water and dead fish lined the stream from Kilby Farms more than four miles west to Octoraro Creek. A stench lingered over the area late Thursday afternoon.

In a statement, MDE spokesperson Jay Apperson said violations at Kilby Farms are unacceptable.

“We are taking this issue very seriously and have already obtained a preliminary injunction from the court barring this facility from discharging pollution into the waterway,” he said. “We are now asking the judge to hold the operator in contempt of that ruling.”

Under Maryland law, large-animal operations such as dairy farms require approvals to regulate and prevent discharges. Despite housing hundreds of cows, Kilby Farms doesn’t have permit coverage.

Testing by Maryland regulators has found depleted water quality and significantly less life in Basin Run downstream from Kilby Farms, but Gorski took issue with the state’s methods in an interview last month. He said the state failed to account for pollution that flows through the farm and into Basin Run from a different tributary, which he said his own testing shows has high bacteria levels upstream from Kilby.

Flahart told The Banner last month he believes he’s been targeted by a liberal environmental department under Democratic Gov. Wes Moore. He said state regulators don’t understand many of their own rules and have imposed impossible constraints on his industry.

The farmer paid a $50,000 penalty under the 2025 settlement with MDE and said he’s spent millions more on improved operations and environmental compliance there. He recently removed a drainage pond blamed for much of the pollution.

This week’s fish kill prompted angry comments on community social media pages in Cecil County. Video posted by one user in a new “Protect Basin Run” Facebook group shows foamy water flowing through the creek.

“Anyone else sick and tired of the farm literally dumping cow manure into Basin Run?” another person wrote with the hashtag #SaveBasinRun.

Larry McCracken Jr., a neighbor downstream from Kilby Farms, has watched pollution in Basin Run for years and said he’s encouraged to see others worried about the problem. McCracken hasn’t met Flahart but believes the farmer is doing his best to address problems that existed long before he took over the dairy operation.

“I’m happy that it’s finally getting somewhere,” he said of the new attention on Basin Run, “but it doesn’t need to be at the cost of somebody. It just needs to be taken care of.”

A hearing to discuss MDE’s motion to hold Kilby Farms in civil contempt is scheduled for Oct. 13 in a Cecil County courtroom.