Inland Recycling’s guilty plea does not stop civil suits
Inland Recycling’s recent guilty plea on May 1, does not halt the civil suit filed against Inland Recycling. Despite the conclusion of the criminal charges, the civil suit continues against Inland Recycling, David Polston and Kenneth Owens. The Texas Attorney General's Office, Colorado County, and the Lower Colorado River Authority continue to prosecute the civil lawsuit against the defendants accused of polluting Skull Creek. The defendants have performed remedial work at the Inland site pursuant to an agreement reached as part of the civil lawsuit. The State and the County are seeking full remediation of the site. The trial is scheduled for April 2025. In addition to the civil suit, the County is also pursuing companies that sent containers to the Inland location and seeking to have those companies remove the containers and otherwise contribute to the cost of remediating the site. Inland Recycling recently entered a guilty plea for the 2019 environmental pollution case for knowingly discharging contaminated pollutants into Skull Creek which flows directly into the Colorado River.
Inland Recycling was fined $75,000 in Travis County, where the case was brought under the Texas Water Code, although the incident happened in Colorado County. Colorado County will receive $56,250, and the remainder of the fine will go to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Black as tar water flowing down Skull Creek in 2019 caused by illegal leaking of chemicals allegedly by Inland Environmental and Remediation. Photo by Texas Tribune
