EPA Accuses Sugar Company of Violating Clean Water ActEPA Accuses Sugar Company of Violating Clean Water Act

The EPA has initiated an Administrative Order on Consent with C&H Sugar Co. in response to Clean Water Act violations at the company's sugar refinery in Crockett, CA.

Kristen Kazarian, Managing Editor

January 24, 2025

2 Min Read
Loose raw sugar was discharged to the Carquinez Strait.
EPA said that during unloading at the dock, loose raw sugar was discharged to the Carquinez Strait on at least three occasions.  utah778/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated an Administrative Order on Consent with C&H Sugar Co. Inc. saying the company violated the Clean Water Act at the company's sugar refinery in Crockett, CA. The order targets the plant's unauthorized discharges of pollutants into the Carquinez Strait, a body of water that connects with the San Francisco Bay, in direct violation of the Clean Water Act.

"With this order, EPA is ensuring that C&H Sugar will act to protect the Bay and prevent further unauthorized discharges into the Carquinez Strait," said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. "With our state partners at the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board we will continue to enforce the Clean Water Act, thereby defending public health and the environment."

The C&H refinery in Crockett receives raw cane sugar from ships that dock at the facility. EPA states that during unloading, loose raw sugar was discharged to the Carquinez Strait on at least three occasions in violation of federal law. The agency goes on to state that sugary wastewater can be high in Biological Oxygen Demand, which can rapidly deplete dissolved oxygen when discharged into water bodies, which is harmful to fish and other aquatic life.

Other violations include failure to properly operate and maintain a wastewater system, failure to implement the company's Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan fully, and violations of the refinery's effluent limitations.

C&H has since modified its sugar offloading system and will show the EPA that the new system adequately prevents discharges into the Carquinez Strait. The refinery will also update its Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan and sugar management practices.

Founded in 1906, C&H Sugar has been a staple throughout the US. The Crockett refinery processes ultra-fine granulated sugar, brown sugar, organic raw cane sugar, and powdered sugar.

About the Author

Kristen Kazarian

Managing Editor

Kristen Kazarian has been a writer and editor for more than three decades. She has worked at several consumer magazines and B2B publications in the fields of food and beverage, packaging, processing, women's interest, local news, health and nutrition, fashion and beauty, automotive, and IT.

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