Radius Recycling pollutes California waterways, environmental group says

Radius Recycling

21/02/2024 19:00

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      Stormwater runoff pollutes San Francisco Bay area, group
says
    

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      Lawsuit seeks civil penalties up to $65,000 per violation
    

  
    By Clark Mindock
       Feb 21 (Reuters) - A California environmental group has
sued Radius Recycling  RDUS.O , alleging the recycled steel
company's operations are polluting the San Francisco Bay and its
tributaries with dirty stormwater runoff.
    San Francisco Baykeeper filed its lawsuit on Tuesday in
Oakland federal court, alleging the company has violated the
federal Clean Water Act by failing to stop heavy metals and
other pollutants from washing away during storms at four of its
facilities in the San Francisco Bay area where cars are
dismantled.
    Radius Recycling was formerly known as Schnitzer Steel, and
was recognized last year by the research firm Corporate Knights
as the world's most sustainable company due to its reported
improvements in things like energy, carbon, water and waste use.
    The environmental group said in its lawsuit that the company
is responsible for stormwater runoff that has occurred since
2018 and contains things like zinc, lead and oils. The lawsuit
said the pollution exceeds limits detailed in the company's
pollution permits, and that Radius Recycling has failed to use
the required best available technology to limit the pollution.
    The group is seeking an order prohibiting future illegal
discharges that it said harm fish, birds and human health. It is
also asking for civil penalties of up to nearly $65,000 per day
per violation.
    Radius Recycling did not immediately respond to a request
for comment on Wednesday.
    The company last year reached settlements worth $2.2 million
in three similar lawsuits filed by the environmental advocacy
group Conservation Law Foundation. That group had alleged that
stormwater discharges from the company's facilities in
Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Puerto Rico had polluted nearby
rivers and coastlines.
    The lawsuit is San Francisco Baykeeper Inc. V. Radius
Recycling et al, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California, case No. 4:24-cv-01005.
    For the plaintiff: Eric Buescher and Nicole Sasaki of the
San Francisco Baykeeper
    For Radius Recycling: Counsel information not immediately
available

 (Reporting by Clark Mindock)
 ((Clark.Mindock@thomsonreuters.com;))