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3/13/2025
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtla.us
March 13, 2025 1237 pm CDT
SDWA CrimeBox
Historic Conviction Fiscal Year 2015; Case ID# CR_2652(Louisiana)
Breaking a conspiracy: truckloads of industrial wastewater dumped illegally in Louisiana
Louisiana's only criminal conviction under the Safe Drinking Water Act
Thursday, January 29, 2015 - United States Attorney in Baton Rouge announces sentencing for a Louisiana environmental services company and two owners for conspiring with the manager of a waste disposal company to violate clean water regulations. A co-conspirator was sentenced separately, including a term of incarceration.
The trial in June 2013 had three defendants charged with conspiracy to violate federal environmental laws including the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act. The accused admitted to plotting and organizing among themselves and the operations manager of a disposal company to illegally discharge enormous quantities of industrial wastewater around Belle River and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The defendants threw around financial kickbacks, false documents and other fraudulent means to obstruct federal environmental protections for water.
The corporate defendant in this case is an environmental services company operating in and around Morgan City, Louisiana. In all, four defendants were sentenced, including the environmental services company and two of its owners along with a former manager terminated by a waste disposal company hired to lawfully dispose of industrial wastewater. The former manager of the waste disposal company was sentenced separately in October 2013 to a one year term of imprisonment in a federal half-way house, five years of probation, a federal fine and restitution. The principal defendants, environmental services company and two owners learned of their sentences Jan 2015 including federal fines, probation and restitution payable to the hired waste disposal company.
Daniel Pflaster, Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Louisiana summed up the case this way, "The defendants admitted they conspired to illegally dispose of huge quantities of industrial wastewaters. Today’s sentence shows that when businesses and their owners break environmental laws and defraud honest businesses who pay to have their wastes disposed of legally, they will be prosecuted."
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality pointed out, "The legal handling, treatment and disposal of wastewater are very serious matters, as violations have a negative, direct impact to our health and environment. We will continue to aggressively prosecute individuals and businesses found to be in violation of environmental laws through illegal disposal methods. Anyone with information on illegal activity is asked to contact DEQ and local law enforcement so that we may initiate an investigation as soon as possible."
The Attorney General for Louisiana, Walt Green made clear at sentencing that the waste disposal company hired by the defendants had been cleared of any involvement in the conspiracy to dump the wastewater illegally. The operations manager investigated in the scheme was terminated and the disposal company was said to have cooperated fully with the investigation.
Incarceration: 12 months; Federal Fines: $56,500; Restitution: $114,969; Special Assessment: $400; Forfeiture: $23,000; Probation: 12 years among four defendants
See last week's CrimeBox here, "Oil company denies injecting benzene contaminated wastewater underground, fined 1 million for fouling groundwater"
SDWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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