Gold Coast Commodities has received permission from a Rankin County court for more time to file a response in its lawsuit against the Mississippi Permit Board's revocation of its wastewater permit.
The Brandon-based chemical manufacturer was granted their request by Rankin County Chancery Court Judge Troy Odom on September 1. The brief in response to the Permit Board will be due by September 21 instead of the original deadline of September 7.
The Permit Board provided the required administrative record (orders issued by both it and the separate Board of Environmental Quality, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality inspection reports, testimony and other components of the board's case against Gold Coast) to the court on July 28.
Gold Coast attorneys are quite busy with four lawsuits involving the company.
In addition to the company's lawsuit to overturn the Permit Board's decision on its wastewater permit to dump in a Pelahatchie lagoon, the company is a defendant in lawsuits filed by the cities of Brandon and Jackson over alleged damage to their sewer systems plus a lawsuit filed by four electrical contractors who were allegedly overcome by fumes at the Pelahatchie lagoon site.
The Brandon lawsuit will be settled at a jury trial starting on April 11, while Gold Coast has a September 24 deadline to respond to the city of Jackson's lawsuit against it.
Gold Coast Commodities previously disposed of its untreated wastewater directly into the sewer systems of first Brandon and then Jackson before the MDEQ ordered it to stop dumping at both locations.
The company later reached an agreement to dump its wastewater at a lagoon in Pelahatchie, which led to odor complaints from nearby landowners and enforcement actions by the MDEQ that led to fines by the Board of Environmental Quality and a revocation of its wastewater permit on November 10 by the Permit Board.
Gold Coast utilizes a process to transform 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. According to court filings, the company is
After revoking Gold Coast's permit, the Permit Board held an evidentiary hearing on April 13 that affirmed decision to cut off the company's permit to dump its wastewater at the Pelahatchie site.
Gold Coast later appealed the decision in Hinds County Chancery Court, which issued a ruling that shifted the case to Rankin County, where Gold Coast does its business.
