Orval Kent Food Company Inc., Wastewater Pollution, Kansas 2008

An Illinois food processing company is being forced to pay the price for its environmental crimes.

Orval Kent Food Company Inc., headquartered in Wheeling, Ill., has agreed to pay a $390,000 civil penalty to the United States to settle allegations that its Baxter Springs, Kan., processing facility overloaded the city’s wastewater treatment system with millions of gallons of industrial wastewater.

At times, the overloading caused pollution along a 22-mile-long section of the Spring River in southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma.

The company, which produces a variety of refrigerated salads and foods, was issued an administrative compliance order by EPA Region 7 in February 2008 after an inspection of the Baxter Springs publicly owned wastewater treatment works found that Orval Kent’s local processing facility was routinely overloading the city’s treatment system.

Discharges from the Baxter Springs treatment system flow into the Spring River, which flows south from the city for about a mile before crossing the state line into northeast Oklahoma, where it continues to flow several miles through tribal lands of the Shawnee Tribe of Eastern Oklahoma.

As part of the settlement, Orval Kent must conduct monitoring and reporting of its wastewater discharges to detect trends and help avoid future violations of the Clean Water Act.

The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval before it becomes final.

Defendant/respondent: Orval Kent Food Company Inc.

Exact criminal charges: Overloading the city’s wastewater treatment system with millions of gallons of industrial wastewater.

City and state: Baxter Springs, Kansas

Exact date with month/day/year: February 2008

Sentence or outcome: $390,000 civil penalty and $32,500 to re-stock fish in or near the watershed of the Spring River.

Dollar amounts: $390,000, $32,500

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