United States v. J.H. Baxter & Co., Inc. et al.

On January 22, 2025, J.H. Baxter & Co., Inc., J.H. Baxter & Co., a California Limited Partnership (collectively “J.H. Baxter”) both pleaded guilty to charges of illegally treating hazardous waste and knowingly violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C. § 6928(d)(2)(A); 42 U.S.C. 7413(c)(2)). The companies' president, Georgia Baxter-Krause, pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42 U.S.C. 6928 (d)(3)). Sentencing is scheduled for April 22, 2025.

J.H. Baxter used hazardous chemicals to treat and preserve wood at its Eugene facility. The wastewater from the wood preserving processes was hazardous waste.

To properly treat wastewater from its wood treatment process, the company operated a wastewater treatment unit to treat and evaporate the waste. Over the years, however, when the facility accumulated too much water on site, employees transferred this water to a wood treatment retort to "boil it off," greatly reducing the volume. J.H. Baxter would then remove the waste that remained, label it as hazardous waste, and ship it offsite for disposal.

J.H. Baxter was never issued a RCRA permit to treat its waste in this manner. Additionally, the facility was subject to CAA emissions standards. Company employees were directed to open all vents on the retorts, allowing discharge to the surrounding air.

State inspectors requested information about J.H. Baxter's practice of boiling off hazardous wastewater. On two separate occasions (September 28 and 30, 2020), Baxter-Krause gave false information in response, which included information about the dates the practice took place, and which retorts were used. The investigation determined that Baxter-Krause knew J.H. Baxter maintained detailed daily production logs for each retort.

From approximately January to October 2019, J.H. Baxter boiled off hazardous process wastewater in its wood treatment retorts on 136 known days. Baxter-Krause was also aware that during this time J.H. Baxter used four of its five retorts to boil off wastewater.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation with assistance from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon State Police.