For Immediate Release
September 29, 2010

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg today announced that Rajani Vadlamudi, the former Environmental and Health Services Manager for Gulf Chemical & Metallurgical Corporation, was convicted of Texas Water Code violations for allowing the unlawful discharge of a pollutant into state waters. As part of an agreement with the District Attorney’s Office, Vadlamudi was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and placed on a three year deferred adjudication.

Gulf Chemical & Metallurgical pled guilty to 11 counts of unlawfully discharging pollutants into state waters and was sentenced in May. The corporation was ordered to pay fines totaling $2.75 million and to comply with plant upgrade conditions which must be completed within one year or they would face additional criminal prosecution.

The charges stemmed from a criminal investigation of Gulf Chemical by the Texas Environmental Enforcement Task Force, which ran a search warrant on the company in February 2010.

The conviction is a culmination of the collaborative work of the Texas Environmental Task Force and District Attorney Lehmberg credited the work of Task Force members: the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Environmental Crimes Unit, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Environmental Crimes Unit, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Criminal Investigation Division and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office Environmental Crimes Unit.

"Improper disposal of hazardous and toxic waste endangers not only the environment but human health,” said Ivan Vikin, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s Criminal Enforcement program for the Houston region. “State investigators, along with assistance from EPA, were able to prevent harm to aquatic wildlife in the Freeport area by discovering the illegal discharge of pollutants. EPA is committed to working closely with TCEQ, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Travis County District Attorney's Office to ensure criminal violations of environmental laws are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

“Our natural resources are precious and this prosecution reflects our commitment to protect them.  We will continue to aggressively prosecute violators who harm the environment and our quality of life,” said District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. “The Task Force members did an outstanding job on this case. These crimes are complex and require that all of us, including the community, work together to be vigilant in our protection of environmental resources,” added Lehmberg.

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