Specialty fertilizer producer Verdesian Life Sciences’ subsidiary Cytozyme Laboratories Inc., Salt Lake City, on Dec. 8 pled guilty in Salt Lake County 3rd District Court to two counts of unlawful discharge of pollutants into the lower sewer system (GM Oct. 29, p. 1). According to local KSL.com, the company agreed to pay a $2 million penalty and take measures to ensure the pollution does not happen again. The penalty is one of the largest criminal fines a corporation has faced in Utah history, according to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.
The charge will be held in abeyance for three years, and if there are no other violations during that time, the charge will be reduced from a third degree felony to a class A misdemeanor.
Director of Operations Anna Kolliopoulos and Chief Operating Officer and CFO David John Bitter were also charged; however, the Dec. 8 plea did not address their charges, according to KSL.
While Cytozyme reportedly purported to be a “zero discharge” facility, allegations were that significant amounts of toxic and corrosive products were discharged almost daily.
This included illegal levels of copper, zinc, molybdenum, and pH, with copper exceeding the state limit by eight times and zinc 28 times, the charges stated, according to the local reports, which said employees “regularly disposed of between two to ten 300-gallon totes of wastewater using the sewer drain since Cytozyme has occupied the South Salt Lake facility.”
The company has reportedly operated out of the site since 2013, but has been in business some 40 years.
Cary, N.C.-based Verdesian acquired Cytozyme in April (GM April 23, p. 32).