Friday, October 14, 2022

Gold Coast Pays Brandon $850,000 in Settlement

 Gold Coast Commodities paid Brandon $850,000 to settle a lawsuit after it illegally dumped highly acidic wastewater into Brandon's sewer system. The Board of Ealdormen approved the settlement on July 5.

Gold Coast Commodities processes used cooking oil and soapstock into animal feed and other products such as biodesel.  Sulfuric acid is added to the oil and soapstock.  The waste from the process is mixed with a caustic agent (usually NaOH).  The waste must be kept at high temperatures or else it can't  flow. The wastewater has one other dangerous feature: it is highly acidic with a pH that can be lower than 2.  Thus it is very important that the wastewater is disposed properly.

Brandon sued Gold Coast Commodities and its officers for illegally dumping highly acidic wastewater into its sewer system in Rankin County Circuit Court on July 10, 2018.   The company is the subject of a federal criminal investigation and several MDEQ cease and desist orders. A federal grand jury recently indicted two Gold Coast officials for allegedly dumping such wastewater into Jackson's sewer system. 

 

Brandon claimed Gold Coast dumped the wastewater into its sewer system for years until 2014.  The complaint stated:


 In or around that year (2014), Gold Coast entered an agreement with the City of Pelahatchie, under which Gold Coast paid a quarterly fee and additional costs for the right to transport its wastewater to Pelahatchie's sewage treatment facility (the "Pelahatchie POTW") on a once- or twice-weekly basis.

10. However, in the first ten (10) months of 2016, Gold Coast transported wastewater to the Pelahatchie POTW only two times. Instead, despite that it knew or should have known it was not safe to discharge its wastewater into the City's sewer system, Gold Coast continued to illegally discharge its wastewater into the City sewer system.

  Brandon investigated and found:

14. At the same time, the City commenced its own investigation, which revealed Gold Coast was indeed clearly dumping significant amounts of high-temperature, corrosive, low-pH wastewater into the City's sewer system. Specifically, the investigation revealed high levels of arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, sodium, and sulfate, both at the Gold Coast point of discharge and in downstream sewer pipes. Waypoint Analytical Report Excerpt. attached hereto as Exhibit "B." Samples of wastewater taken from upstream parts of the sewer system showed pH levels between 3.89 and 6.79 and temperatures between 80.1 and 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Samples taken at the Gold Coast discharge point and downstream therefrom showed pH levels between 1.43 and 1.62 (i.e., extremely acidic) and temperatures between 114.6 and 125.8 degrees Fahrenheit

 Brandon installed a monitor at the company's discharge point.  The city claims the illegal discharge of the acid causes severe damage to city pipes south of the Gold Coast facility. 

 Brandon submitted a complaint to MDEQ. The agency investigated.  Gold Coast officers and employees provided little information and did their best Sergeant Shultz imitations as they claimed they had not clue how the acidic wastewater got into the Brandon sewer system.  

The Brandon lawsuit charged Gold Coast with negligence per se, liability pursuant to ordinance, gross negligence, and corporate officer liability. 

Attorneys Mark Baker and Keith Turner represented Brandon.  Andrew Taggart, Esq. represented Gold Coast. 

 Circuit Judge Steve Ratcliff dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice on July 21 after the case settled.  Gold Coast paid Brandon $850,000.  Gold Coast can not dispose of wastewater in the sewer system unless it reaches an industrial user agreement with Brandon. Gold Coast does not admit to any liability.  Each party pays its own attorney's fees. 

Gold Coast is battling a similar lawsuit in Jackson.  MDEQ shut down its lagoon in Pelahatchie.  Gold Coast co-owner Robert Douglas pleaded guilty  to taking part in the illegal dumping of industrial wastewater in Jackson.  Rebel High Velocity owner pleaded guilty for his part in dumping millions of gallons of the wastewater into the Jackson sewer system.  Earlier post.



13 comments:

Anonymous said...

And now "Broke Brandon Butch" can pay the contractor for the Crossgates Blvd expansion project. Anyone wonder why they contractor stopped working for a bit, now you do. Diesel and payroll costs.

Anonymous said...

What is the real problem with dumping highly acidic waste? I understand that it can cause corrosion. However, when my drains are clogged, I dump a drain clearing acid called Liquid Fire that I purchase from Ace Hardware, down the drain to clear the blockage. I believe that it is sulfuric acid. The same shit that Bronze Age idiots in Europe will often throw in their own sister’s face for refusing to wear a hijab.

Anonymous said...

@ 11:24. The Crossgates expansion project is an MDOT project so not sure why you'd want to drag the mayor of Brandon into this.
https://mdot.ms.gov/portal/news_release_view/544
Maybe do a little research next time before just slinging crap against the wall and seeing what sticks.

Anonymous said...

Gold Coast is becoming a household name

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Brandon has to pay the lawyers 1/3 of the amounts recovered to their lawyers?

Anonymous said...

1:48 Not in it's entirety. From the Presser:

"The project was funded by appropriations from the Mississippi Department of Transportation with local matches"

Look at the downtown HWY 80 project. With the sidewalk that literally connects to nothing on the other side of Louis Wilson(that is crooked mind you), to the parts of the project that were taken out because of lack of funding, it was half ass at best. MDOT is involved because you can't do major construction on a major thoroughfare without involving them. Yes there is funding, but most of the time, it is matched with local funds. I can assure you this happened.

Anonymous said...

As a Brandon resident, all I know is it has gotten a lot more expensive to live there since Butch Lee became our mayor.

Cynical Sam said...

If this was being paid to the People's Republik of Jackistan there would be some smiling palms, right?

Anonymous said...

1:48pm you are exactly right!

Anonymous said...

1:48. Ok, so Crossgates is MDOT. How about College Street or maybe the downtown sidewalks. College street is moving at a snails pace and the downtown sidewalks took almost a year to complete. So is MDOT into sidewalk and sewer projects too?

Anonymous said...

Interesting that you are criticizing a mayor for initiating pedestrian infrastructure. Most towns in Mississippi don’t have any sidewalks. This Mayor has made pedestrian accommodations a priority. Construction takes time. I see people using the paths and sidewalks and parks. Sorry that construction can’t be completed overnight. I guess you complain about the parks generating too much noise or the amphitheater generating too much traffic. Why don’t you move to any other town and the lack of progress and construction won’t bother you at all.

Anonymous said...

College Street water and sewer replacement has been a hassle traffic wise for sure, nobody would argue that. The alternative would've been leaving aged infrastructure in place and allowing it to fail. We've seen how that's worked out in other places and I'd rather deal with the headache for a few months than having water and sewer leaks in the future. If I understand correctly, the schedule will allow for resurfacing this area as MDOT does the rest of HWY 468, which will be a lot of new asphalt in the city.

Anonymous said...


Well 4:58, there's always Jackson......seems like living there would be more your style..



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