WASHINGTON, D.C. - MGP Ingredients of Illinois, Inc. (MGP)-an ethanol producing company-has reached a settlement to resolve claims that it violated the Clean Air Act (CAA), which will result in a reduction of over 1,700 tons of air pollutants a year at its ethanol production plant in Pekin, Illinois, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the State of Illinois announced today. With today's settlement, approximately 83 percent of the ethanol production capacity nationwide will be under consent decrees requiring new pollution controls. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The United States has reached a settlement with DaimlerChrysler Corporation (Chrysler) to repair defective emission controls on nearly 1.5 million Jeep and Dodge vehicles from model years 1996 through 2001, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The agreement also settles allegations that the company violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) by failing to properly disclose defective catalytic converters installed on the affected vehicles. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - MSC Ship Management (Hong Kong) Limited-a Hong Kong-based container ship company-has agreed to plead guilty to charges that it engaged in conspiracy, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, false statements and violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, the Department of Justice announced today. Per the terms of a plea agreement that must be approved by the court, MSC Ship Management will pay $10.5 million in penalties. This is the largest fine in which a single vessel has been charged with deliberate pollution and the largest criminal fine paid by a defendant in an environmental case in Massachusetts history. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Michael L. Hayhurst, Jr. was indicted today by a federal grand jury and charged with violating the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act and for covering up illegal discharges of dredged material from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in connection with a dredging operation he supervised in Calibogue Sound in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Andrew Anhh Nguyen, a Walnut, California resident, was charged by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, California with conspiring to import plant specimens protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Department of Justice announced today. Nguyen, who was allegedly conspiring to import into the United States, specimens of cycads-which resemble palms or tree ferns-was also charged with eight counts of customs offenses, including smuggling and importing cycads by means of false declarations and statements, and one count of violating the Endangered Species Act. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In one of the most significant wetlands criminal enforcement prosecutions in United States history, Robert J. Lucas, Jr.; his daughter, Robbie Lucas; and M. E. Thompson, Jr.; and two affiliated corporations-Big Hill Acres, Inc., and Consolidated Investments, Inc.-were sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Cast-iron pipe manufacturer McWane Inc. (McWane) and company executives James Delk, Michael Devine, and Charles "Barry" Robison were sentenced today in federal court for environmental crimes connected with the operation of McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company in Birmingham, Alabama. Judge Robert Propst sentenced McWane to pay a fine of $5 million and serve a period of probation for five years. McWane, Inc. is also ordered to perform a community service project valued at $2.7 million. Judge Propst ordered McWane executive James Delk to serve probation for three years, including six months of home detention and a fine of $90,000; Mike Devine received two years of probation, including three months of home detention and a fine of $35,000; and Charles Robinson received two years of probation and a fine of $2,500. Additionally, Robinson will serve 150 hours of community service work. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Texas man was indicted by a federal grand jury for criminal violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced today. Dennis Rodriguez and his company North American Waste Assistance, LLC (NAWA), located in El Paso, Texas, are each charged with one count of knowingly making a material false statement or representations in manifest used to transport hazardous waste, two counts of transporting hazardous waste to an un-permitted site, and two counts of disposing of hazardous waste without a permit. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Karlog Shipping Company Ltd. (Karlog Shipping)-operator of a fleet of cargo freighters based in Piraeus, Greece-pleaded guilty to making false statements and obstructing justice in connection with the overboard discharge of waste oil through a hidden bypass pipe on the M/V Friendship, a Greek-registered cargo ship, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal indictment was returned in Salt Lake City, Utah, charging Pacific States-a manufacturer of cast iron pipe owned by McWane, Inc.-and two managers with committing conspiracy, Clean Air Act (CAA) violations, and submitting false statements to the government, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sixteen firms will pay $14.9 million for cleanup costs at the San Gabriel Valley Area 2 Superfund site, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The EPA's cleanup calls for removing contaminants from approximately 30 million gallons per day of contaminated groundwater in and near Baldwin Park, California, benefiting some 85,000 households. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency have reached a major Clean Air Act (CAA) settlement with Lucite International, Inc. (Lucite) requiring the chemical manufacturer to install pollution controls on three emission sources at its Memphis, Tennessee plant, which will eliminate 6,500 tons of pollution each year. Under the terms of the settlement announced today, Lucite will install an estimated $16 million worth of new pollution controls, in addition to paying a civil penalty of $1.8 million and performing a supplemental environmental project worth $1.3 million. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Jeffery L. Springer of Phoenix, Arizona has pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA), the Department of Justice announced. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - ExxonMobil has reached a comprehensive Clean Air Act (CAA) agreement that is expected to reduce harmful air emissions by more than 53,000 tons per year at the company's seven United States petroleum refineries, the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced they have reached a comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with the Sanitation District No. 1 of Northern Kentucky. (Read more)

Taking another significant step toward cleaning up polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) in the Hudson River, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reached an agreement with the General Electric Company (GE), requiring it to begin the dredging called for in EPA's 2002 Record of Decision for the Hudson River PCB's Superfund site. Under the terms of the consent decree lodged today in federal district court in Albany, New York, GE will construct the sediment transfer/processing facility needed for the project and perform the first phase of the dredging according to design plans being developed under a prior agreement. The dredging is scheduled for the 2007 spring through fall dredging season. Today's agreement also calls for GE to pay EPA up to $78 million for the Agency's past and future costs. EPA has already collected $37 million from GE through past settlements. (Read more)

Newdunn Associates LLP, and its contractors, Orion Associates and Northwest Contractors (Newdunn) have reached settlements with the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia, which will require the firms to completely restore the approximately 26 acres of wetlands in Newport News, VA, the Department of Justice, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced today. The settlements resolve allegations that Newdunn violated the Clean Water Act (CWA). (Read more)

Ralph Edward Williamson of St. Petersburg, Florida, has pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of violating the Endangered Species Act, the Department of Justice announced today. Williamson was charged by a federal grand jury in March 2005 with one felony count of conspiring to violate the Endangered Species Act, to commit false statements, to import plants contrary to law and to violate Plant Protection and Quarantine requirements. He was further charged in the indictment with two counts of smuggling and two misdemeanor counts of violating the Endangered Species Act. The guilty plea was entered pursuant to a plea agreement, allowing Williamson to plea to one broader misdemeanor offense. (Read more)

An Illinois man was indicted by a federal grand jury for a criminal violation of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced today. David Inskeep, who formerly managed and operated the Inwood Dairy, located in Elmwood, Illinois, is charged with one count of knowingly discharging pollutants into waters of the United States without a permit. (Read more)

Motiva Enterprises LLC (Motiva) has agreed to pay $12 million to settle a joint federal-state civil lawsuit arising from a catastrophic explosion in 2001 at the company's former Delaware City refinery that killed one employee, injured several others, and caused a massive discharge of spent sulfuric acid from a ruptured tank, the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of Delaware announced today. (Read more)

The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with Clean Harbors Environmental Services that is expected to enhance calculating and reporting on benzene emissions from North America's largest operator of hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities. This settlement involves 10 facilities in eight states. It confirms the proper industry standard for compliance with the Clean Air Act regulation that limits benzene emissions from facilities that treat, store, and dispose of hazardous waste. (Read more)

Over the past several years, the Justice Department and EPA have taken an industry-wide approach to environmental law enforcement, by targeting industries with significant compliance problems, including those that have been major sources of air pollution. A chief component of these enforcement actions is compelling companies in violation of the law to install state-of-the-art pollution controls and to build new facilities with controls in place. Recent successes include major settlement agreements with the wood products industry, refineries, and coal utilities sectors. With today's landmark Clean Air Act settlement with grain industry giant Cargill, Inc., 81 percent of uncontrolled ethanol production capacity-those facilities without controls already in place-will now be under federal consent decrees. (Read more)

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a multi-state Clean Air Act settlement with Cargill, Inc. (Cargill), which will result in a reduction of approximately 30,000 tons of pollution a year and set new standards for limiting harmful emissions from specialty oilseed plants. Cargill is a multi-state agribusiness that owns and operates 27 plants which process corn, wheat, soybeans, and other oilseeds into value-added products used in the food, feed, and ethanol industries. (Read more)

The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement under which the City and County of Denver, Waste Management of Colorado, Inc., and six other companies agreed to pay $13.9 million to reimburse money spent by the United States in connection with the Lowry Landfill Superfund Site near Denver, Colorado. The settlement, which resolves three years of litigation, also requires that the settling defendants continue site cleanup and pay costs incurred by the United States with respect to the site in the future. Although initial cleanup of the site is nearly complete, long-term maintenance is expected to cost $43 million and continue for more than 30 years. (Read more)

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced the first nationwide settlement of a Clean Air Act enforcement action for violations of the federal standards for ethylene oxide emissions from sterilization facilities. The settlement was reached with the Cosmed Group, Inc., (Cosmed), headquartered in Jamestown, R.I., which sterilizes products for the food and medical industries. EPA investigations found violations of ethylene oxide Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) requirements at six of the eight sterilization facilities in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Texas, and California. (Read more)

The Atlantic Richfield Company and the NorthWestern Corporation have agreed to complete a $100 million-plus cleanup of the Milltown Reservoir, removing millions of cubic yards of contaminated sediments and decommissioning and removing the Milltown Dam, the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency announced today. The State of Montana and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are also signatories to the settlement. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maryland Department of the Environment today announced two major Clean Water Act settlements with Baltimore County and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), that are anticipated to lead to more than $1 billion in sewer system improvements. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C.- A comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with the city of New Iberia, Louisiana was announced today by the Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the State of Louisiana, on behalf of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ). Under the settlement, the city is constructing a new sewage treatment plant expected to cost $30 million and has agreed to perform an extensive characterization, evaluation, and rehabilitation of the city’s collection system designed to eliminate sewage overflows, estimated to cost up to $20 million over the next 10 years. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Two Virginia companies and two individuals pleaded guilty this week announced Kelly Johnson, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Paul J. McNulty, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The two companies and individuals pleaded guilty to buying false training certificates for their employees working in the asbestos, lead abatement, and hazardous waste industries fraudulently obtaining 8(a) set-aside contracts for minority-owned companies by submitting false statements to the Small Business Administration (SBA).
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WASHINGTON, D.C.- Formosa Plastics Corporation (Formosa) has settled a joint federal-state lawsuit over excess vinyl chloride emissions and other violations of federal and state environmental laws at Formosa’s facility in Delaware City, Delaware the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) announced today. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced comprehensive Clean Air Act settlements with petroleum refiners Valero and Sunoco that are expected to reduce harmful air emissions by more than 44,000 tons per year from 18 refineries in eight states. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with DuPont to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations of the repair, testing, recordkeeping, and reporting regulations for appliances that use ozone-depleting substances. The violations occurred at DuPont’s titanium dioxide manufacturing facility located in New Johnsonville, Tennessee. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -The U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (EPPC) announced today a comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with the Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD). The settlement ensures that MSD will make extensive improvements to its sewer systems to eliminate unauthorized discharges of untreated sewage and to address problems of overflows from sewers that carry a combination of untreated sewage and storm water at a cost likely to exceed $500 million. Throughout the year, MSD’s sewer systems are overwhelmed by rainfall resulting in unlawful discharges of untreated sewage and overflows of combined sewage into the Ohio River and its tributaries totaling billions of gallons each year. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, DC - Over the past four years, the Environment and Natural Resources Division has worked tirelessly to enforce the nation’s environmental laws, resulting in numerous civil and criminal accomplishments, and tangible benefits that protect America’s rivers, skies, and lands for everyone to enjoy. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement with Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc. of Muncie, Indiana to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at its Madera, California facility. The agreement will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SOx), and particulate matter (PM) by more than 400 tons per year through the installation of approximately $6.6 million worth of new equipment to control and monitor air pollution. In addition, Saint-Gobain will pay a civil penalty of $929,000 and $1.2 million for an environmental project that will also reduce emissions. EPA estimates that Saint-Gobain will spend approximately $2.2 million annually to operate and maintain the new equipment. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), and the State of Illinois today announced a comprehensive Superfund settlement with Kerr-McGee Chemical that is expected to result in the clean-up of radioactive wastes and the restoration of natural resources at two Superfund sites in and around the city of West Chicago, Illinois, at a cost of approximately $74 million. With this clean-up, the last radioactive contamination remaining from 40 years of disposal from the Rare Earths Facility, which was operated by Kerr-McGee and its predecessors, will be removed and the ecosystem will be restored. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, DC-The Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the State of Missouri today announced a civil settlement with the Golden Triangle Energy, LLC, ethanol plant in Craig, Missouri for alleged Clean Air Act violations. The settlement mandates reductions in air pollution, including volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, from this ethanol manufacturing facility. This is the sixteenth settlement the Justice Department and the EPA have reached with a company in the ethanol industry. The settlement is set forth in a consent decree filed in the federal court in Missouri. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thomas Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division; Jim Vines, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee; Fred Burnside, Special Agent in Charge, Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division; Louis Huttenbach, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General; and My Harrison, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Memphis Division, announced that Milton W. Beard, a resident of Maury County, Tennessee, entered a plea of guilty today to a two count information charging him with negligently discharging pollutants into waters of the United States. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, DC - The Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the State of Illinois announced today the settlement of their major Clean Air Act case alleging that Illinois Power Company and its successor, Dynegy Midwest Generation, violated the New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act at the Baldwin Power Station in Baldwin, Illinois. The agreement will reduce emissions of harmful sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from Illinois coal-fired power plants by 54,000 tons each year through the installation of approximately $500 million worth of new pollution control equipment and other measures. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, DC - The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency today announced the lodging of a proposed consent decree in which 12 defendants, including Waste Management, Inc. and Transtech Industries, Inc. will pay $2,625,000 to reimburse EPA’s costs for the ongoing clean-up of the Kin-Buc Landfill Superfund site in Edison, New Jersey. The defendants also will pay a $100,000 civil penalty for their late performance of certain cleanup actions required by EPA. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency today announced the settlement of their landmark Clean Air Act case alleging that Ohio Edison Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., violated the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the Clean Air Act at the W.H. Sammis Station, a coal-fired power plant in Stratton, Ohio. The states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which are co-plaintiffs in the government’s lawsuit, also join the settlement. The consent decree agreed to by Ohio Edison will reduce emissions of harmful sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the Sammis plant, as well as from other Ohio Edison and FirstEnergy coal-fired power plants, by over 212,000 tons per year. The pollution controls and other measures required by the consent decree are expected to cost approximately $1.1 billion. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Thomas V. Skinner, Acting Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at the Environmental Protection Agency, and Richard G. Andrews, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that Motiva Enterprises LLC pleaded guilty to negligently endangering workers at its former refinery in Delaware City, Delaware, discharging pollutants into the Delaware River and negligently releasing sulfuric acid into the air, both in violation of the Clean Air Act. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Chief U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson immediately sentenced Motiva to pay a fine of $10 million and to serve a three-year term of probation. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy, III announced today that Gazi George, former Vice President of the City Environmental facility in Detroit, formerly owned by Texas-based U.S. Liquids, Inc., was sentenced today to 27 months imprisonment and a fine of $60,000, after pleading guilty to felony violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). George's plea was entered on September 24, 2004, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today issued the following statement on the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Thomas L. Sansonetti of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD): (Read more)

WASHINGTON, DC - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Thomas V. Skinner, EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, will make brief statements regarding a reached settlement involving a large power plant on MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 at 12:00 P.M. EST. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Paul Warner, U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, announced today that a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging a Utah man with Clean Air Act violations and a scheme to conceal. The defendant is Alan Young, 64, of St. George, Utah. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska, and the Attorney General for the State of Nebraska today announced a Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act settlement with the city of McCook, Nebraska. The settlement was filed in the federal court in Omaha, Nebraska simultaneously with a complaint alleging violations of both acts. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi announced today that on Friday, February 25, 2005, a petit jury in Jackson, Mississippi, returned guilty verdicts on all counts in an indictment brought against Robert Lucas, Jr., of Lucedale, Mississippi; his daughter, Robbie Lucas Wrigley of Ocean Springs, Mississippi; and M. E. Thompson, Jr., of D’Iberville, Mississippi, and two affiliated corporations; Big Hill Acres, Inc., and Consolidated Investments, Inc. The three individuals and two corporations were charged with Clean Water Act violations in connection with their development of wetlands in a 2600 acre subdivision on property in Vancleave, Mississippi, known as Big Hill Acres. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Under the terms of a settlement filed today in federal court, several oil companies will pay $1.5 million to the Environmental Protection Agency for costs it incurred while directing the investigation and cleanup of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive, from a groundwater basin formerly used for drinking water by the City of Santa Monica, California. (Read more)

Washington, D.C. - The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency today announced they have reached an agreement with Jewel Food Stores, Inc. to resolve alleged violations of federal regulations to protect stratospheric ozone. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced the filing of a consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, under which Occidental Chemical Corporation, the Port of Tacoma, Mariana Properties, Inc., and Pioneer Americas agree to complete the cleanup of contaminated sediments in the Hylebos Waterway of Commencement Bay in Tacoma, Washington. The Hylebos Waterway is part of the Commencement Bay/Nearshore Tideflats Superfund Site. The cleanup is expected to cost about $36.5 million. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency announced today that a federal grand jury in the District of Montana has indicted W.R. Grace and seven current and former Grace executives for knowingly endangering residents of Libby, Montana, and concealing information about the health affects of its asbestos mining operations. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Thomas V. Skinner, EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, today announced a comprehensive Clean Air Act settlement with ConocoPhillips that is expected to reduce harmful air emissions by more than 47,000 tons per year from nine U.S. petroleum refineries in seven states that represent nearly 10 percent of total refining capacity in the United States. (Read more)

Washington, DC - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Colm F. Connolly, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that William Daisey, of Milton, Delaware, pleaded guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act. Daisey, 53, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court before the Honorable Sue L. Robinson. The offense carries a maximum penalty of three years incarceration and a $250,000 fine. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, DC - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Paula D. Silsby, United States Attorney for the District of Maine, announced today that two chief engineers of a freighter ship were each sentenced yesterday to two years of probation and a fine of $3000 for their roles in concealing the overboard ocean dumping of waste oil from the M/V Kent Navigator through false log books and statements designed to deceive the U.S. Coast Guard. The defendants, Chief Engineers Alfredo D. Lozada and Felipe B. Arcolas, worked aboard the Kent Navigator, which is owned and operated by Petraia Maritime Ltd. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Attorney General’s Office, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) today announced a settlement agreement with Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Chevron Environmental Management Co., and Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., LP (Chevron) that provides for restoration projects as compensation for natural resource damages resulting from the release of hazardous substances and the discharge of oil from the Port Arthur Refinery in Jefferson County, Texas. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, DC - The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Kansas today announced a civil settlement with the U.S. Energy Partners LLC, ethanol plant in Russell, Kansas for alleged Clean Air Act violations. The settlement mandates reductions in air pollution, including volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from this ethanol manufacturing facility. This is the third settlement with a company in the ethanol industry following a series of settlements reached in 2002 with a group of ethanol companies in Minnesota as a part of EPA’s continuing examination of the ethanol industry. The settlement is set forth in a consent decree filed in the federal court in Kansas. (Read more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement that will require Weyerhaeuser Company to clean up the Plainwell Mill and 12th Street Landfill in Plainwell, Michigan, which are portions of the Kalamazoo River Superfund site. The settlement will also require Weyerhaeuser to reimburse EPA for approximately $138,000 in costs incurred in connection with the mill and landfill. (Read more)