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

On April 22, 2025, a court sentenced J.H. Baxter & Co., Inc., and J.H. Baxter & Co., a California Limited Partnership, collectively, to pay a total of $1.5 million in criminal fines. In addition, both companies were ordered to serve five years of probation. The companies’ president, Georgia Baxter-Krause, was ordered to serve 90 days’ incarceration, followed by one year of supervised release.

The two companies (collectively J.H. Baxter) were responsible for a wood treatment facility in Eugene, Oregon. 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)(1)). Baxter-Krause, the companies' president, 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)).

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, J.H. Baxter operated a wastewater treatment unit to treat and evaporate the waste. For 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. The facility was also subject to CAA emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants. However, employees were directed to open all vents on the retorts, allowing discharges to the surrounding air.

State inspectors requested information about J.H. Baxter's practice of boiling off hazardous wastewater. On two separate occasions, 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.

J.H. Baxter boiled off hazardous process wastewater in its wood treatment retorts on 136 days. Baxter-Krause was also aware that during this time the company used four of its five retorts to boil off wastewater.

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