The United States’ complaint, filed on Thursday, August 13, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said Old Dutch Mustard violated the Clean Water Act on more than 1,700 days between November 2019 and February 2026 by discharging acidic pollutants into a tributary to the Souhegan River.
The complaint said Old Dutch Mustard failed to comply with its stormwater discharge permit and failed to timely provide compliance information upon EPA’s request.
Old Dutch Mustard has been the subject of repeated enforcement efforts over the last two decades, including most recently for separate criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, for which the company and its president ended up sentenced in April.
“Today’s consent decree will ensure that this company comes into compliance with the Clean Water Act, leveling the playing field for American businesses,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD).
Address Pollution
“This consent decree finally resolves decades of noncompliance with the Clean Water Act by ensuring that the company will comprehensively identify and address all sources of pollution into the tributary that runs through the facility,” said Assistant Administrator Jeffrey A. Hall of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
“Old Dutch Mustard spent years polluting the Souhegan River,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan for the District of New Hampshire. “State and federal government agencies repeatedly attempted to secure the company’s cooperation in keeping the river clean, and those efforts were met with schemes and deception that resulted in both a criminal prosecution and the civil violations set forth in today’s action. Enough is enough. Today’s consent decree will mean close monitoring of the Old Dutch Mustard Company so that we can protect a treasured New Hampshire waterway, and the public, from further pollution.”
The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of any pollutant into navigable waters of the United States without a permit.
According to the complaint, Old Dutch Mustard has a two-decade long history of unlawfully discharging its acidic wastewater and stormwater into a stream that flows underneath and in front of the company’s facility in Greenville, NH.
As a result, the company has been subject to enforcement actions by the EPA, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES), and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.
EPA and NH DES required Old Dutch Mustard to continually monitor the stream at their facility, which flows into the Souhegan River. The Souhegan River is one of 19 New Hampshire rivers the State of New Hampshire designated as an important natural resource.
Unauthorized Discharges
According to the complaint, the company’s monitoring results show that, on 1,728 days between November 2019 and February 2026, the stream had high levels of acidity, indicating unauthorized waste- and/or stormwater discharges from the facility.
To resolve these violations and ensure that the facility does not continue to unlawfully discharge acidic material from its facility, the consent decree requires Old Dutch Mustard to improve its monitoring to provide for real-time data, thoroughly investigate any future discharges to determine their cause, and implement corrective measures to stop them.
The complaint and the proposed consent decree are available on the Justice Department’s website.