BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - An Attleboro, Mass., metal-cladding company will pay a $50,000 civil penalty for the state to settle a lawsuit over allegations that its illegally stored industrial wastewater at its facility, said state Attorney General Maura Healey.
The lawsuit claimed that Engineered Materials Solutions stored its industrial wastewater between October 2010 and May 2014 in holding tanks prior to shipping the tanks offsite. The alleged practice violates the state's Industrial Wastewater Holding Tank Regulations because the company has an existing connection to the Attleboro sewer system.
“We allege this company wrongfully stored industrial wastewater on-site, even though it has an existing connection to Attleboro’s sewer system,” Healey said. “The Holding Tank Regulations are intended to prevent wastewater from being unnecessarily transported on state roads and to avoid utilizing facilities with less effective treatment technologies. This settlement will ensure that industrial wastewater is properly disposed of moving forward.”
The company will pay the $50,000 and is required to connect all of its wastewater discharges to the Attleboro sewer system within one year. If Engineered Materials Solutions successfully connects the wastewater discharges to the sewer system, then $20,000 of the civil penalty will be waived, according to the terms of the settlement.