.gif)
CEO pleads guilty to intentionally dumping industrial wastewater into creek
Inland Recycling, a recycling company based in Colorado County, entered a guilty plea for a 2019 environmental pollution case after their CEO, David Polston, admitted to his company knowingly dumping wastewater into a creek feeding into the Colorado River.
According to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, Polston pleaded guilty on May 1 to intentionally or knowingly authorizing discharge into Skull Creek, which flows directly into the Colorado River.
The judge fined Inland Recycling $75,000 as part of the guilty plea and the admission of guilt by Polston. $56,250 will go to Colorado County with the remainder of the fine, $18,750, going to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Despite the crime occurring in Colorado County, under the Texas Water Code, the location for a prosecution allows the case to be tried in Travis County, according to a KVUE from District Attorney Jose Garza.
Complaints were initially received by TCEQ in February 2019 of an “oil-like sheen, gasoline odor and dead fish” in Skull Creek.
After an investigation was launched by TCEQ and the Texas Parks and Wildlife department resulting in samples being taken in April 2019, it was found that pollutant levels greatly exceeded what was regulated by state law.
An indictment was returned against Inland Recycling after a Travis County grand reached a decision Dec. 8, 2021, where the case had been on going until the guilty verdict was reached.
“Our office is grateful for the hard work and dedication of our staff and partners who worked together to hold the defendant accountable,” Garza said, as reported by KVUE. “In this case, various levels of government agencies collaborated to protect the environment.”
