FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1998
(202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888
MID-SOUTH PLEADS GUILTY TO ILLEGAL DISCHARGES INTO
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Case Part of Comprehensive, Coordinated Effort to Stop Pollution of Treasured River
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Mid-South Terminal Company, a Memphis-based partnership owned in part by Belz Enterprises, pleaded guilty today in Federal District Court to illegally discharging thousands of tons of scrap metal into the Mississippi River during January and February, 1995.
Under a plea agreement with the United States, Mid-South pleaded guilty to one count of negligently discharging pollutants into the river, a misdemeanor, and agreed to pay a fine of $200,000, the maximum allowed under the Clean Water Act. The parties agreed that $50,000 would be suspended, based on efforts Mid-South agreed to undertake to clean up President's Island, where the illegal discharges occurred. The proposed plea agreement is subject to the approval of United States District Judge Jerome Turner.
"The Mississippi River is part of our national heritage," said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "We are determined to reclaim the nation's greatest river from the polluters who have threatened to destroy it."
The successful prosecution of Mid-South is part of a comprehensive, coordinated federal effort, known as the Mississippi River Initiative, to investigate and prosecute those who illegally pollute the river with discharges ranging from raw sewage to industrial waste. Attorney General Janet Reno and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner visited St. Louis, MO, last year to tour the site of a formerly contaminated area of the river and to announce a series of cases being brought as part of this initiative. The goal of the Mississippi River Initiative is to restore the river to its historic grandeur and help to protect and preserve its surrounding communities.
"For too long, businesses and companies operating along the Mississippi River have used the river as a dumping ground for their waste materials," said Veronica F. Coleman, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Ms. Coleman said that Mid-South's willingness to lead cleanup efforts on President's Island was a "significant factor" in the government's decision to enter the proposed plea agreement.
"By agreeing to improve the environment in a long-neglected part of our community, Mid-South has gone a long way toward restoring its reputation as a responsible member of the business community," Ms. Coleman said. "We accept Mid-South's representations that, in the future, they intend to lead by example, and that we will not see Mid-South engaging in the unfortunate misconduct that has necessitated this criminal prosecution."
According to court documents, Mid-South agreed to plead guilty after FBI and EPA investigators conducting secret surveillance of the Mid-South facility revealed that Mid-South illegally discharged scrap metal into the Mississippi River on eleven days, often several times a day, between February 13, 1995 and March 31, 1995.
Mid-South loaded scrap metal onto barges at its President's Island facility from a platform 50 to 100 feet above the barges (depending on water levels). Dump trucks filled with scrap metal backed to the edge of the platform and dumped their contents down an open chute and onto the barges. When the scrap metal landed on the barges, scrap metal "bounced off" the barges and into McKellar Lake, which is part of the Mississippi River. An underwater dive inspection conducted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency during July 1995 found approximately 9,500 cubic feet of scrap metal in the Mississippi River underneath the chute used for loading scrap metal onto barges at defendant's facility.
According to court documents, Mid-South continued dumping scrap metal into the Mississippi River even after United States Coast Guard officials directed the company to stop any discharges into the river. Mid-South officials agreed to use a fence on the barges to prevent scrap metal from going into the river. The fence was only used on some occasions, however, and, even when it was used, it did not keep all scrap metal from bouncing into the water.
In addition to paying the maximum fine allowed under the Clean Water Act, Mid-South has agreed to be placed on probation for two years, with the following remedial activities and community service required as special conditions of probation:
- removing all scrap metal and other debris in the Mississippi River in the area where the defendant conducted its barge-loading operations;
- removing accumulated waste materials on the banks of McKellar Lake at both terminal facilities owned by the defendant on President's Island;
- taking a leadership role in the President's Island "Water Matters" Project and enlisting the support of all businesses on President's Island in environmental compliance efforts and cleanup activities sponsored by the President's Island "Water Matters" Project; and
- providing heavy equipment and labor to support the ongoing cleanup activities of the President's Island "Water Matters" project.
This case was investigated by the FBI, EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, and the United States Coast Guard. Ms. Coleman handled the prosecution with David M. Uhlmann, Assistant Chief of the United States Department of Justice's Environmental Crimes Section.
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