PHOENIX — An Arizona mining corporation has been ordered by a Maricopa County judge to pay a $2.7 million fine for contaminating a public creek with arsenic.
Bagdad Hillside LLC will pay the fines and surcharges that stem from an Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) investigation. The investigation showed a mine in Yavapai County, owned by Bagdad Hillside, was discharging water contaminated with arsenic into Boulder Creek. According to the ADEQ, the contamination was at a rate of 5 gallons per minute or about 2.6 million gallons per year.
According to the Office of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's, Bagdad Hillside had agreed to implement a plan to stop the discharge and obtain environmental permits when the company signed three compliance consent orders in 2014 and in 2015. The company did not comply and continued to discharge into Boulder Creek, the Attorney General's Office said.
Bagdad Hillside has been convicted of three felony violations of the Arizona Pollution Discharge Elimination System and also has been placed on two years' felony probation, the Attorney General's Office said.