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Tammy L. Shaw, J.D.

This fall, the federal court system and the State of Mississippi sent a message to industry that polluting does not pay. In different regions of Mississippi environmental violations resulted in some of the largest penalties ever imposed in the state and the nation as a whole. Jackson County industry, Morton International, Inc., will pay $38 million in civil and criminal penalties for falsifying records and illegally dumping hazardous waste.1 Central Industries, a Forrest, Mississippi poultry waste processor will pay $14 million in fines and restitution for dumping slaughterhouse waste into a Mississippi Creek.2
Morton International, Inc.
 

In October, the United States and the State of Mississippi entered into an agreement with Morton International, Inc. resulting in a civil settlement of thousands of violations of state and federal environmental laws. Under the settlement Morton will pay a $20 million cash penalty and perform $16 million worth of environmental enhancement projects. This is the largest-ever civil fine for environmental violations at one facility. In a separate action, Morton pleaded guilty to criminal violations under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and agreed to pay $2 million in criminal penalties.
 

Falsified Reports and Violations
The enforcement action came about after a routine 1996 audit at the plant revealed falsified documents and reports at Morton's Moss Point facility. The 70-acre plant, located near the Escatawpa River in Jackson County, makes plastic polymers and polysulfide rubber materials, including sealants and adhesives. The company was charged with keeping two sets of records and falsifying discharge monitoring reports. A joint investigation conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) revealed that the company had violated numerous clean air, clean water, hazardous waste and other laws. The investigators found that Morton had illegally handled and disposed of several kinds of hazardous waste at an on-site landfill and conducted unauthorized disposal of hazardous waste in deep injection wells.
 

Cooperative Effort
The Executive Director of the MDEQ, Charles Chisolm, noted that this is one of the "largest environmental enforcement actions in the United States to date."3 The action was a joint effort and an example of cooperation between agencies, including the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice, the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, and the MDEQ.
In addition to the cash penalty, which will be divided equally between the United States and Mississippi, the company must pay $10 million toward a plant waste minimization supplemental environmental project, $4 million to the city of Moss Point to upgrade existing sewer systems and $2 million to the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Polymer Science for pollution prevention research. Morton must also pay for an independent audit of it's 23 other plants across the United States.
 

United States v. Central Industries, Inc.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ordered Central Industries to pay $14 million in fines and restitution after the company pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act (CWA) and 25 specific CWA violations. Central operates a rendering plant in Forrest, Mississippi, in which millions of pounds of waste and byproducts from poultry slaughtering are processed each week for the production of pet food and other products.
 

Federal prosecutors charged that Central consistently violated wastewater standards from the 1970's through the 1990's, accepting significantly more waste than it had capacity to process without violating its discharge permits. Central illegally dumped waste, including blood, feathers and entrails into Shockaloe Creek, a tributary of the Pearl River which is a central Mississippi water supply. In 1995, the dumping was so excessive that the waters of the creek turned brown and emitted a foul odor, earning it the nickname "Blood Creek."
 

While admitting guilt, Central argues that the violations only occurred during the years of 1994 and 1995 and that the most flagrant violations were committed by independent contractors hired to manage the waste on-site. In addition to the $13 million fine, the company must pay $1 million in restitution to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and submit a detailed apology to the residents of Scott County. Central also received five years probation.4

ENDNOTES
1. Morton International, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rohm and Haas Company based in Philadelphia, PA.
2. United States v. Central Industries, Inc., S.D. Miss., docket number unavailable (2000) (on file with author).
3. U.S., Mississippi Reach Environmental Agreements with Morton, EPA Headquarters Press Release, Washington, D.C., October 27, 2000.
4. Mississippi Waste Processor Pleads Guilty to Water Violations, EPA Headquarters Press Release, Washington, D.C., November 9, 2000.
 

University of Mississippi