The federal government, along with the state of Connecticut, has reached three related settlements with numerous responsible parties to ensure funding for environmental clean up activities at the Solvents Recovery Service of New England Superfund (SRSNE) site in Southington, Conn. (Read more)

Peter Xuong Lam, of Fairfax, Va., was found guilty late yesterday by a federal jury in Los Angeles of conspiring to import mislabeled fish in order to avoid federal import tariffs. Lam also was found guilty on three counts of dealing in fish that he knew had been imported contrary to law. (Read more)

A federal jury in Detroit has convicted three former managers of Comprehensive Environmental Solutions, Inc. (CESI), a company that operates an industrial waste treatment and disposal facility in Dearborn, Mich., following a three week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Victoria A. Roberts. (Read more)

Jerry Mason, of Frankfort, S.D., pleaded guilty today and was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Denver for a false statement he provided to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in an attempt to illegally import a leopard hide and skull from a trophy hunt in South Africa. (Read more)

The Southern Union Company, the Texas-based former owner of the New England Gas Company, was convicted today by a federal jury in Providence, R.I., for illegally storing mercury at a site in Pawtucket, R.I. (Read more)

Operation Central, a three-year undercover operation conducted by federal agents and prosecutors, has resulted in the arrests and guilty pleas of seven individuals who took part in the illegal international trade of skins and products made from protected sea turtles and other wildlife. (Read more)

Martin Villegas Terrones, a Mexican national, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for his role in an illegal smuggling operation that trafficked in protected sea turtle species (Read more)

An Arizona land developer and a contractor have agreed to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act for bulldozing, filling, and diverting approximately five miles of the Santa Cruz River, a major waterway in Arizona. (Read more)

CITGO, a Delaware corporation, pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to pay a $13 million fine for the negligent discharge of pollutants into two rivers in Louisiana in violation of the Clean Water Act. The $13 million fine is the largest ever for a criminal misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act. (Read more)

Abner J. Schultz, a resident of Lake Havasu, Ariz., was sentenced today in federal court in Pocatello, Idaho for a criminal violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) related to unlawful dredge and fill work along the Salmon River. (Read more)

Two companies that own and operate a Portland cement manufacturing facility near Dixon, Ill., have agreed to install state-of-the-art pollution controls to reduce harmful air emissions and pay an $800,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. (Read more)

Johnson Matthey Inc., the owner and operator of a gold and silver refining facility in Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty today to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act for failing to properly report wastewater discharges at the facility.  The former plant manager and former general manager both pleaded guilty to making false statements and were sentenced by Dee Benson, U.S. District Judge for the District of Utah. (Read more)

Andrew Siemaszko, a former reactor coolant system engineer at FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), was convicted today by a federal jury in Toledo, Ohio, for concealing information from and making false statements to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). (Read more)

David G. Williams, a former Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard and main propulsion assistant for the Coast Guard Cutter Rush, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Hawaii for making a false statement to federal criminal agents investigating allegations of potential discharges of oil-contaminated waste from the cutter into the Honolulu Harbor. (Read more)

Colorite Specialty Resins, headquartered in Somerville, N.J., has agreed to perform corrective measures at its Burlington, N.J., manufacturing facility that will reduce harmful emissions of vinyl chloride to resolve alleged violations of federal and state environmental laws. (Read more)

Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals Incorporated (KMBT) was sentenced for a felony violation of federal ocean protection laws. KMBT admitted to violating the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, more commonly known as the Ocean Dumping Act, which makes it a crime to knowingly transport or cause to be transported, without a permit, certain materials from the United States for the purpose of dumping the materials into ocean waters. (Read more)

The University of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, and two municipalities have agreed to pay for past and future cleanup costs at the West Kingston Town Dump/URI Disposal Area Superfund Site, located in South Kingstown, R.I. (Read more)

As part of the fifteenth settlement secured by the Department and the Environmental Protection Agency to control harmful air pollution from coal-fired power plants, the owner and operator of a plant in St. Johns, Ariz., has agreed to install pollution controls at an estimated cost of $400 million to reduce harmful emissions and pay a $950,000 civil penalty. (Read more)

Republic Services of Southern Nevada, the current operator of the Sunrise Mountain Landfill located in Clark County, Nev., has agreed to construct and operate a comprehensive remedy for the site and to pay a $1 million civil fine in order to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. (Read more)

An indictment was returned charging two individuals with smuggling the hides and a skull of two leopards into the United States in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), an international treaty that regulates international shipments of listed species, to which the United States and 172 other countries are members. The leopards allegedly were hunted and killed in South Africa illegally and then smuggled into Zimbabwe to obtain false CITES permits. (Read more)

Apex Oil Company Inc. has been ordered to remediate extensive soil and groundwater contamination from its former refinery operations in Hartford, Ill. In a decision issued on July 28, 2008, Apex Oil Company Inc. was ordered to clean up the contamination, at an expected cost of $150 million. (Read more)

A federal grand jury in San Francisco returned a second superseding indictment charging Fleet Management Limited, a Hong Kong ship management company, with negligently causing the discharge of 50,000 gallons of oil from the Cosco Busan and falsifying documents after the crash to cover-up the company’s negligence. (Read more)

Italian shipping company B.Navi Ship Management Services was sentenced today to pay $1,500,000 and serve three years probation in connection with the illegal dumping of oily sludge, bilge wastes, and oil-contaminated ballast water from the M/V Windsor Castle, a 27,000 gross-ton bulk carrier vessel. (Read more)

Bristol-Myers Squibb, an international pharmaceutical manufacturer, has agreed to reduce the output of ozone-depleting refrigerants at multiple industrial facilities around the country at a combined cost of $3.65 million in order to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act. (Read more)

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay a $975,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at its former manufacturing plant in Groton, Conn. (Read more)

Oscar Cueva, of McAllen, Texas, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Denver to 16 months in prison for his participation in the sale and smuggling of sea turtle and other exotic skins and skin products into the United States from Mexico, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

Gerald Lakota, a former employee of Fujicolor Processing, pleaded guilty today to willfully concealing and covering up a material fact in reports required to be filed under the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Magellan Midstream Partners agreed to pay a $5.3 million civil penalty for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The alleged violations include illegally discharging gasoline and fuel oil from pipelines in Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota and Arkansas into nearby waterways over the past 10 years. (Read more)

Reederei Karl Schlueter, an operator for GmbH & Co. KG (RKS), a ship management company, and Chief Engineer Nikola Ilijic, an officer on a ship operated by RKS, pleaded guilty today to a charge that they falsified the Oil Record Book pertaining to the commercial vessel M/V MSC Uruguay, announced the Justice Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Pat Meehan. Schlueter is of Rendsburg, Germany, and Ilijic is of Rijeka, Croatia. (Read more)

Four of the nation’s largest home builders have agreed to pay civil penalties totaling $4.3 million to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The companies also have agreed to implement company-wide compliance programs that go beyond current regulatory requirements and put controls in place that will keep 1.2 billion pounds of sediment from polluting our nation’s waterways each year. (Read more)

Valero Refining-Texas, L.P. has agreed to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act stemming from a spill of 3,400 barrels of oil into the Corpus Christi Ship Channel on June 1, 2006, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. (Read more)

Colorado Structures, Inc., (CSI) a construction management firm that specializes in building big-box commercial stores in the western United States, has agreed to pay a $300,000 penalty and implement a company-wide storm water compliance program to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. (Read more)

Spencer Environmental Incorporated (SEI) and its president, Donald M. Spencer, were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Haggerty for the District of Oregon, the Justice Department announced. In a related matter, SEI’s former engineer, Durbin Hartel, was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice and lying to investigators. (Read more)

Jorge Caraveo, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Denver to serve 18 months in prison for his participation in the sale and smuggling of sea turtle and other exotic skins and skin products into the United States from Mexico, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Abner J. Schultz, a resident of Lake Havasu, Ariz., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Pocatello, Idaho, to a Clean Water Act (CWA) violation arising out of unlawful dredge and fill work in the Salmon River between June and November 2005, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division and Thomas E. Moss U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho. (Read more)

Motorola, Inc., Siemens Corp. and GlaxoSmithKline will collectively pay a $500,000 civil penalty for system failures that led to the release of trichloroethylene (TCE) into the public drinking water system in Scottsdale, Ariz., the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. (Read more)

Toray Industries Inc., a Japanese company, and its U.S. subsidiary, Toray Composites (America) Inc., have agreed to pay the United States $15.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that they conspired to fix prices on carbon fiber, a graphite substance used in aircraft, ammunition and satellites procured by the United States, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

Water Supply and Storage Company (WSSC), a mutual ditch company and the owner and operator of the Grand River Ditch, has agreed to pay $9 million for damages to natural resources within Rocky Mountain National Park caused by a May 30, 2003,  breach of the Grand River Ditch, the Justice Department and National Park Service announced today. (Read more)

The Department of Justice announced today that it has filed a consent decree that will resolve its employment lawsuit on behalf of Sean Thornton against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s largest retailer. (Read more)

David Geisen of DePere, Wisc., was sentenced today to four months of home confinement with electronic monitoring for making false statements and misleading the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) about the quality of past inspections of the reactor-head at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station during the fall of 2001, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Esteban Lopez Estrada, a Mexican national, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Denver to 24 months in prison for his participation in the sale and smuggling of sea turtle and other exotic skins and skin products into the United States from Mexico, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

The National Navigation Company (NNC) pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon for 15 felony charges, the Justice Department announced. The company, based in Cairo, Egypt, admitted to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and making false statements to federal officials (Read more)

Carlos Leal Barragan, of Ciudad Guzman, Mexico, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to serve 16 months in prison and three years supervised release in connection with his sale and smuggling of internationally protected sea turtle skins and sea turtle products from Mexico to the United States, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

A Taiwanese manufacturer and three American corporations will pay a $2 million civil penalty for allegedly importing and distributing approximately 200,000 chainsaws in the U.S. that failed to meet federal air pollution standards, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced today. The companies also agreed to spend approximately $5 million on projects to reduce air pollution. (Read more)

Holly Refining & Marketing has agreed to spend more than $17 million in new and upgraded pollution controls at its refinery in Woods Cross, Utah, and pay a $120,000 civil penalty, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The settlement, which resolves alleged violations of the Clean Air Act by Holly, is expected to reduce air pollution by more than 420 tons of harmful emissions annually. (Read more)

Danny M. Chien, a Taiwanese citizen and resident of Shanghai, China, and Style Craft Furniture Co., Ltd., were each indicted today by a federal grand jury in Newark, N.J., on one count of smuggling, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Christopher J. Christie, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. (Read more)

ConocoPhillips, an international energy company, has agreed to pay a $1.2 million civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act related to over 2,000 effluent discharges from a petroleum refinery it operates in Borger, Texas, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced. (Read more)

PACCSHIP, the operator and manager of approximately ten ships that regularly carry goods between Asia and ports in the United States, pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to pay a $1.7 million fine for crimes related to improper transfers and discharges of oil-contaminated waste from two of its ships, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and George E. B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. (Read more)

Mark Booth, of Shippensburg, Pa., was sentenced today to pay $10,000 fine, $5,000 community service payment and to serve three years probation, by U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Babcock in the District of Colorado for making false statements in connection with his attempt to import the trophy parts of a leopard illegally killed in South Africa in 2003, the Justice Department announced. During the probationary period, Mr. Booth is prohibited from hunting anywhere in the world and must take steps to notify the trophy-hunting community of the need to comply with laws and regulations related to that activity. (Read more)

John Joseph Cota, the pilot of the Cosco Busan, the 65,131-ton container ship that collided with the San Francisco Bay Bridge resulting in the discharge of approximately 58,000 gallons of oil, was charged today with violations of the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division and Joseph P. Russoniello, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California. (Read more)

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) in Kentucky has agreed to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems, at a cost estimated to exceed $290 million, to eliminate unauthorized overflows of untreated raw sewage, and to reduce pollution levels in urban storm water. In addition, LFUCG will pay a civil penalty of $425,000 to the United States and implement two federal and two state environmental projects valued at $2.73 million that will provide additional environmental benefits to the Lexington community. (Read more)

True World Foods Chicago, LLC, was sentenced on March 11, 2008, to pay $60,000 for its role in purchasing and re-selling falsely labeled frozen fish fillets in violation of the Lacey Act, the Justice Department announced today. The Lacey Act prohibits, among other things, the receipt, acquisition or purchase of fish that was taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of U.S. laws or regulations. (Read more)

Cotter Corp., headquartered in Denver, Colo., pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado for its role in the poisoning deaths of migratory birds at its uranium processing facility near Cañon City, Colo., the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Martin Villegas Terrones, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Denver for his role in an illegal smuggling operation that trafficked in protected turtle species, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

W.R. Grace, a global supplier of specialty chemicals, has agreed to pay $250 million, the highest sum in the history of the Superfund program, to reimburse the federal government for the costs of the investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination in Libby, Mont., the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. (Read more)

The city of Jacksonville, Fla., has agreed to clean up two Superfund Sites located within the city limits at an estimated cost of $94 million, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. In addition, the settlement requires the city to reimburse all costs incurred by EPA. (Read more)

The former chief engineer of an American-flagged car-carrier pleaded guilty today to criminal charges related to the deliberate discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste through a “magic pipe” that bypassed required pollution prevention equipment, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. (Read more)

Zane H. Fennelly, a former captain of a Jacksonville, Fla.-based commercial fishing vessel, was sentenced today to 4 months in prison and one year supervised release, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

A comprehensive settlement was reached today between the federal government, the Pharmacia Corporation and Bayer CropScience Inc., which will ensure the second phase of cleanup actions at the Industri-Plex Superfund Site in Woburn, Mass., the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced. The settlement agreement is contained in a consent decree lodged today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the Justice Department on behalf of the EPA. (Read more)

Cleve Allen George, the owner of the Virgin Islands Asbestos Removal, Co., was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for multiple violations of the Clean Air Act and false statements related to the demolition of a low-income housing neighborhood in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

Home Depot has agreed to pay a $1.3 million penalty and implement a nationwide compliance program to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The settlement resolves alleged violations that were discovered at more than 30 construction sites in 28 states where new Home Depot stores were being built. (Read more)

Wang Hong, a Chinese national, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Denver to 167 days in prison and three years of supervised release, the Justice Department announced today. Wang pleaded guilty to federal smuggling charges earlier this year in connection with his sale and shipment of endangered sea turtle shell and shell products from China to the United States. (Read more)

CBS Corp. has agreed to pay $31.35 million to resolve all outstanding liability related to the cleanup of six Superfund sites in and near Bloomington, Ind., the Justice Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Indiana announced today. This is the last in a series of partial settlements that have been negotiated with CBS over the past 10 years after the parties abandoned their original settlement, which required CBS to excavate and incinerate PCB-contaminated materials. (Read more)

Esteban Lopez Estrada, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Denver to one felony count of smuggling and one felony count of money laundering in connection with the smuggling of sea turtle and other exotic skins and skin products into the United States from Mexico, the Justice Department announced today. (Read more)

Italian shipping company B. Navi Ship Management Services and Chief Engineer Dushko Babukchiev pleaded guilty in connection with the illegal dumping of oily sludge, bilge wastes and oil contaminated ballast water from one of the company’s ships, the M/V Windsor Castle, a 27,000 gross-ton bulk carrier vessel, Assistant Attorney General Ronald J. Tenpas, U.S. Attorney Donald J. DeGabrielle Jr., and U.S. Coast Guard Captain James E. Tunstall announced. (Read more)

Dennie Eugene Pridemore was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Natchez, Miss. to 41 months in prison and 3 years probation for illegally storing and disposing hazardous waste, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced. (Read more)

The Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) has agreed to pay $187 million that will finance a major cleanup along 120 miles of the Clark Fork River and other areas in southwestern Montana, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced today. (Read more)

Jorge Caraveo of El Paso, Texas, and Carlos Leal Barragan of Jalisco, Mexico, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Denver to felony charges in connection with the smuggling of sea turtle and other exotic skins and skin products into the United States from Mexico, the Justice Department announced today. Caraveo pleaded guilty to three counts of smuggling, and Leal Barragan pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling and one count of money laundering. (Read more)

The Tamarack Resort, located approximately 100 miles north of Boise, Idaho, has agreed to pay the United States a $185,000 penalty to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act arising from storm water violations discovered on the resort’s property in 2005 and 2006, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced. (Read more)

Oscar Cueva of McAllen, Texas pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Denver to a felony count of conspiracy to smuggle protected sea turtle and other exotic skins and skin products into the United States and to launder funds in support of that smuggling, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Massey Energy Company, Inc. has agreed to pay a $20 million civil penalty in a corporate-wide settlement to resolve Clean Water Act violations at coal mines in West Virginia and Kentucky, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced. This is the largest civil penalty in EPA’s history levied against a company for wastewater discharge permit violations. (Read more)

Boston and Maine Corp., BNZ Materials Inc., and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), have agreed to perform environmental cleanup work expected to cost $23.53 million at the 553-acre Iron Horse Park Superfund Site located in Massachusetts, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. (Read more)

Sinclair Oil Corp. will pay a $2.45 million civil penalty and spend more than $72 million for new and upgraded pollution controls to reduce air pollution from the company's three refineries, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The settlement resolves alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at the company's facilities in Casper and Sinclair, Wyo., and in Tulsa, Okla. (Read more)

David S. Wong, a resident of Elk Grove Village, Ill., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to violating the Lacey Act for purchasing and re-selling a specific species of fish in the catfish family when he reasonably should have known that the fish had been imported illegally, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Branko Lazic, owner of Bilaz, Inc., was sentenced today in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to six months home confinement for a Clean Air Act violation for improper removal of asbestos, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Mark Humphries, the former chief engineer of the M/V Tanabata, an American-flagged car-carrier ship based in Baltimore, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to six months in prison for conspiracy to make illegal discharges of oily waste and lying to the Coast Guard, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. (Read more)

Fu Yiner, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to a felony count of smuggling in connection with his sale and shipment of internationally protected sea turtle shell and sea turtle shell products from China to the United States, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Robert Langill of Woburn, Mass., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., to 60 days in prison, 10 months home detention, and 2 years of supervised release for violating the Clean Air Act in connection with asbestos abatement at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. (Read more)

The American International Specialty Lines Insurance Company, Inc. (AISLIC), has agreed to pay $42.5 million to clean up contamination at four industrial facilities in a suit in which the Department of Justice intervened on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies. The four sites, formerly owned by Fruit of the Loom, are located in Michigan, New Jersey and Tennessee. (Read more)

Lyle Ravenkamp of Hugo, Colo., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado and was sentenced for his role in the poisoning deaths of over 2,200 migratory birds on agricultural land, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)

Wang Hong, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to a felony count of smuggling in connection with his sale and shipment of internationally protected sea turtle shell and sea turtle shell products from China to the United States, the Justice Department announced. (Read more)