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PA MISSOURI COMPANY AND TWO OFFICIALS PLEAD TO WATER VIOLATIONS
Release Date: 08/14/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1998
MISSOURI COMPANY AND TWO OFFICIALS PLEAD TO WATER VIOLATIONS
Osceola Products Co.; Steve Cooper, President of Osceola; and George Russell, Osceola’s Environmental Engineer, all pleaded guilty on August 3, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in Cape Girardeu to violating the Clean Water Act. All defendants admitted that between August 1983 and June 1997 heated and untreated wastewater containing hexane and cotton seed oil was discharged into Buffalo Creek, which is a tributary of the St. Francis River. Sufficient quantities of heated wastewater, hexane and cotton seed oil can all harm aquatic life. When sentenced, Osceola faces a maximum fine of $2.5 million. Each of the men face a maximum of up to one year in prison and/or a maximum fine of up to $25,000. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center.
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