New Jersey Company Sentenced for Criminal Clean Water Act Violations

In January 2025, a Kearny, NJ-based company with offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York plead guilty to Clean Water Act violations that caused the death of more than 150 fish. This week, the company was sentenced to three years of Federal probation with environmental conditions and must pay $1,000,000 in federal and state penalties.

The New Jersey company provides sewer, sediment, water, and other special services, and had entered a contract with the Town of Cheshire, CT to repair an 11-foot culvert pipe underneath a road. The project required the work to be done in such a way that prevents uncured geopolymer mortar from leaking into a nearby waterway.

Clean Water Act Violations

From July 16 to July 18, 2019, the company performed the work in direct contradiction with the contract’s requirements, leading to uncured geopolymer mortar seeping into the brook. On July 18, a resident with property adjacent to the brook saw dead fish in discolored, oily water, and smelled an odor like lighter fluid.
 

"The investigation revealed that the company was aware that its environmental controls were deficient, but did not remediate these deficiencies during the project. Although the company attempted to blame the pollutant release and fish kill on a single employee, the investigation showed that he had been inadequately trained, directed to complete the job in an unrealistic timeframe, and was never informed that the uncured geopolymer mortar was hazardous to the environment."

US Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut

The investigation also revealed that the company:

• Lacked a meaningful and comprehensive environmental training program for its employees, particularly with respect to the Clean Water Act (CWA), even though its core business is repairing and rehabilitating infrastructure that interfaces with public waterways.
• Incentivized site supervisors and executives to push their work crews to perform projects quickly and maximize the number of jobs completed.
• At the time of the violations, was operating under a Code of Conduct as part of a 2014 settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office to resolve civil allegations involving environmental pollution.

Justice.gov links:
New Jersey Company Admits Clean Water Act Violations, Causing Fish Kill in Cheshire
New Jersey Company Sentenced for Clean Water Act Violations that Caused Fish Kill in Cheshire, Will Pay $1 Million

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Tags: Clean Water Act, EPA Enforcement