Attorney General's News Release
November 18, 2011
Attorney General Koster obtains injunction against Malibu, California, couple for clean water violations in Audrain County -- state to receive $117,000 --
Jefferson City, Mo. – Attorney General Chris Koster said today he has obtained an injunction against a Malibu, California, couple for violations of Missouri’s Clean Water Law. He said the court has prohibited David and Sondra Ott from conducting any business in Missouri that would require any environmental permits for ten years.
Koster said the Otts, who operated Westgate Mobile Home Park in Mexico, Missouri, until 2010, owned a three-cell wastewater treatment lagoon that served the mobile home park.
Koster said inspections by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) showed the defendants allowed water contaminants to run off into an unclassified tributary of Brushy Creek, which flows near the Westgate Mobile Home Park. He said MDNR inspections also showed the Otts had failed to safely maintain the lagoon and to protect visitors, including children and pets, from unnecessary hazards. They also failed to pay permit fees, operated without a pollution discharge permit, and failed to submit water discharge monitoring reports, which are used by MDNR to determine if wastewater treatment facilities are exceeding pollution limts.
At trial, one of the mobile home park’s neighbors testified about the foul odor and contaminated wastewater that routinely discharged onto his property from the Westgate Mobile Home Park.
“We all must serve as stewards of our state’s environmental integrity,” Koster said. “Missouri understands this obligation and has passed laws to ensure that our rivers and streams remain unpolluted. This office will continue to enforce those laws aggressively.”
Koster said in addition to being prohibited from doing business in Missouri, the court assessed a $117,000 civil penalty and $2,623 in delinquent permit fees, penalties, and interest and assessed all costs associated with the case to the defendants.