The city of Jackson filed a lawsuit against Gold Coast Commodities and its contractors Wednesday for damage caused by the dumping of the company's wastewater in the city's sewer system.
The lawsuit was filed in Hinds County Circuit Court, with Judge Winston Kidd handling the case.
The city says that it seeks more than $15 million in actual damages, with more possible once the city investigates the scope of the damage to its sewer system, and punitive damages as well in addition to attorneys' fees.
Also named in the lawsuit was Andrew Walker, the owner of Rebel High Velocity Sewer Services. He was paid by Gold Coast from November 2016 to October 2017 to dispose of its wastewater illegally into the Jackson sewer system at his facility near Interstate 20 in south Jackson.
An order by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality ended Gold Coast's disposal of its wastewater in Jackson and the company later shifted to disposal at a lagoon in Pelahatchie.
Walker pleaded guilty in January to federal charges of dumping more than 3 million gallons of this untreated wastewater into Jackson’s sewer system.
Patridge-Sibley Industrial Services, which trucked Gold Coast's wastewater to Walker's facility, was also named in the complaint.
Gold Coast utilizes a process to convert used cooking oil and soapstock — which is a byproduct which originates from the refining of soybean and other oils — into animal feed and biodiesel using sulfuric acid.
This wastewater is highly corrosive and was the result of another lawsuit by the city of Brandon, where Gold Coast is based. The city of Brandon alleged that the dumping of this wastewater caused millions of dollars in damage to their sewer system.
On October 24, 2017, a DEQ inspector made an unannounced visit to Rebel's facility in south Jackson and took samples from Gold Coast wastewater dumped in the sewer lines that feed into the embattled Savanna Street treatment plant. This plant is already the subject of a federal consent decree.
According to Jackson city ordinances, the monthly average temperature of wastewater can’t exceed 115 degrees or a maximum reading of 125 degrees, can’t contain corrosive material or obstruct sewer systems with either solid debris or by congealing into a sludge.
The ph level of the wastewater sample was highly acidic and the sample was 132 degrees. The lab director at DEQ told the inspector that the sample actually exploded in the lab during testing for metals because the fluid reached its boiling point.
Gold Coast's wastewater disposal has been the subject of numerous enforcement actions by the DEQ, both with the Jackson disposal and the subsequent disposal of Gold Coast wastewater at a lagoon in Pelahatchie.
Three contractors that worked at the Pelahatchie lagoon have also filed suit against the company after they say they were overcome by noxious fumes at the site.
On April 13, the Permit Board revoked Gold Coast’s permit to dispose of its wastewater in a Pelahatchie lagoon and the company filed a challenge on April 16 in Hinds County Chancery Court .
A judge’s order moved Gold Coast’s challenge to Rankin County, where Gold Coast conducts its business.
