Environmental Convict

The former plant manager of PCS Nitrogen in Geismar was fined $30,000 by District Judge Holdridge of the 23rd JDC, reports The Advocate. The facility itself has already agreed to pay $1.7 million in fines and $9.3 million in improvements and repairs for the facilty. David Dugas, a U.S. Attorney, indicated that the fines were the largest ever imposed for an environmental crime in Louisiana.

The charges against the plant manager resulted from a four-year investigation by the EPA, FBI, and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Louisiana.

In somewhat related news, the Times Picayune reports that federal prosecutors from the U.S. attorney's office in New Orleans have charged an Iowa shipping company in the dumping of two tons of industrial waste into the Mississippi River. A joint investigation by the EPA and U.S. Coast Guard determined that crew members knowingly discharged a load of bunker fule and cargo hold debris from the ship's bilge directly into the Mississippi, which is a violation of the Clean Water Act.

Posted by AJR at December 24, 2002 01:30 PM