CORPORTE CRIME REPORTER

Seven-Up Taken Down: Bottler Pleads Guilty to 12 Counts of Water Pollution
19 Corporate Crime Reporter 44(4), November 10, 2005

Seven-Up/RC Bottling Company of Southern California will plead guilty today to 12 counts of violating the Clean Water Act and pay more than $1 million in criminal and civil fines for industrial stormwater and wastewater violations at its soft drink bottling plants in Vernon and Buena Park, California.

Under terms of an agreement with the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the company will pay a $600,000 criminal penalty and a $428,250 civil penalty.

Federal officials alleged that the company’s facility in Vernon dumped grease, petroleum by-products and acid drink product directly into the Los Angeles River, creating a stain on the bank of the river.

They also alleged that another facility in Buena Park dumped acidic industrial wastewater into the Orange County Sanitation District sewer system.

Acidic wastewater can corrode sewer pipes and damage the integrity of wastewater treatment plants.

Both waterways are already contaminated with oil, nutrients, metals, and other pollutants commonly used by industrial facilities.

The Clean Water Act precludes any company that commits criminal violations from obtaining federal contracts.

To avoid being precluded from obtaining federal contracts, the Seven-Up/RC Bottling Company of Southern California and its parent company, Dr Pepper/Seven-Up Bottling Group, also entered into a suspension and debarment agreement with EPA to develop a corporate-wide environmental program, which will include an environmental inspection program and a "hotline" so employees can anonymously report environmental or safety violations.

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