Greenville facility must overhaul water monitoring to settle lawsuit

Old Dutch Mustard has agreed to a court consent decree, requiring the company to set up a comprehensive water pollution compliance program, after allegations that its Greenville facility violated the Clean Water Act.

The consent decree was lodged on Thursday with the U.S. District Court for New Hampshire as part of a civil case that was brought, in addition to earlier criminal charges. In consenting to the decree, Old Dutch Mustard did not admit guilt or liability.

Old Dutch Mustard has faced repeated enforcement efforts over the last two decades, most recently for separate criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, to which the company and its president, Charles Santich, pleaded guilty in February. In April, Santich was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Old Dutch Mustard Co. was ordered to pay a $1.5 million fine.

“Old Dutch Mustard spent years polluting the Souhegan River,” said Erin Creegan, the U.S. attorney for 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 federal complaint, filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency at the same time as the consent decree, alleged that Old Dutch Mustard violated the Clean Water Act on more than 1,700 days between November 2019 and February 2026.

The complaint alleges that the violations were caused by the discharge of acidic pollutants into a tributary of the Souhegan River. The complaint also alleges that Old Dutch Mustard failed to comply with its stormwater discharge permit and failed to provide timely compliance information upon EPA’s request.

To resolve those violations and ensure that the facility will no longer discharge acidic material, the consent decree requires Old Dutch Mustard to improve its monitoring to provide real-time data, thoroughly investigate any future discharges to determine their cause, and take corrective measures.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in 2015, Santich hired an excavation company to bury a pipe to discharge acidic wastewater and stormwater from the mustard plant so it flowed in the general direction of the Souhegan River, following a former railroad bed. The pipe’s discharge point was downstream of the environmental monitoring required by the EPA and the state through previous enforcement actions.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Santich attempted to hide the existence of the pipe, directing employees not to talk about it.

A Department of Environmental Services inspector discovered the pipe and discharge during a 2023 inspection.

The Old Dutch Mustard case has gone through multiple enforcement actions involving the Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Environmental Services, and the state’s attorney general, dating back to the 1980s. The company had already entered into a consent decree in 2016, which required corrective actions for water pollution and hazardous waste management violations affecting the Souhegan tributary.

“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 Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division.

The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of any pollutant into navigable waters of the United States without a permit.

The proposed consent decree was filed in the U.S. District Court for New Hampshire and is subject to a 30-day public comment period. The complaint and the proposed consent decree are available at www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.

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