A New York man and a mustard manufacturing company were sentenced last week in federal court in Concord for knowingly discharging a pollutant into the Souhegan River without a permit in violation of the Clean Water Act.
Charles Santich, 60, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine.
U.S. District Court Judge Landya B. McCafferty ordered Old Dutch Mustard Co. to pay a $1.5 million fine and establish environmental compliance and ethics programs.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the company had compliance issues with the Clean Water Act dating back to the 1980s, and as a result, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Attorney General’s office required continuous monitoring of a stream that flowed underneath and in front of the mustard manufacturing facility.
The stream eventually flows into the Souhegan River in southwestern New Hampshire.
Prosecutors said Santich created makeshift infrastructure to try to elude monitoring, worked to save on shipping costs by secretly dumping his excess wastewater into the Souhegan River, and repeatedly lied to state and federal authorities about compliance.
They said Santich ordered his employees to pump the acidic wastewater and stormwater through an underground pipe and into the Souhegan River.
U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan said the court found that the wastewater caused environmental harm, including killing fish, and the discharges continued to pollute the river, preventing recovery and the return of aquatic life.
