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EPA accuses C&H of violating Clean Water Act over sugar discharges into Carquinez Strait

PIX Now afternoon edition 1-17-2025
PIX Now afternoon edition 1-17-2025 13:05

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it ordered C&H Sugar Company to follow the federal Clean Water Act, which the company allegedly violated at least three times at its Crockett facility by discharging sugar into the Carquinez Strait.

The order—called an administrative order on consent—also includes accusations of failure to properly operate and maintain a wastewater system, failure to implement the company's stormwater pollution prevention plan fully, and violations of the refinery's effluent limitations.

The EPA said in a statement that sugary wastewater can be high in biological oxygen demand, which can rapidly deplete dissolved oxygen when discharged into water bodies, endangering fish and other aquatic life.

"With this order, EPA is ensuring that C&H Sugar will act to protect the Bay and prevent further unauthorized discharges into the Carquinez Strait," said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. "With our state partners at the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board we will continue to enforce the Clean Water Act, thereby defending public health and the environment."

A message left for C&H Sugar owner the ASR Group wasn't immediately returned Friday morning.

The sugar refinery receives raw cane sugar from ships docked at the facility. The EPA said that during unloading, loose raw sugar was discharged to the Carquinez Strait on at least three occasions, in violation of federal law.

The EPA said its order resulted in C&H modifying its sugar offloading system and promising that the new system adequately prevents discharges into the strait. The agency said C&H will also update its stormwater pollution prevention plan and sugar management practices.

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