LANSING, MI — Past and present owners of a St. Joseph County paper mill that’s released PFAS pollution to the White Pigeon River have agreed to pay the state of Michigan about $1.38 million.
On Sept. 5, Ox Industries of Pennsylvania agreed to pay $95,200 in civil fines and take steps to close wastewater lagoons and stop toxic discharges at its paperboard mill in White Pigeon.
The settlement follows a separate consent deal in April with former mill owner Artistic Carton Company, which agreed to pay about $1.18 million toward state-led cleanup at the riverside mill at 15781 River Street.
“These settlements send a clear message that Michigan will hold polluters accountable and take action to safeguard our natural resources,” said Phil Roos, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).
The state attorney general’s office sued Ox last October in Ingham County Circuit Court, alleging a history of untreated wastewater spills and “years of inaction” on contaminated lagoon cleanup.
In 2020, Ox bought the White Pigeon mill from a Graphic Packaging subsidiary, Artistic Carton, which operated the mill from 1979 to 2019. Artistic Carton was later renamed Grove 1935 and is based in Forest Lake, Ill. Ox reopened the mill in 2021.
The state claims Ox dumped large amounts of untreated wastewater into settling lagoons without a permit. That followed mechanical breakdowns which released contaminated wastewater to the river under Artistic Carton’s ownership going back to 2009.
Testing found high PFOS and PFOA levels in site groundwater, and in surface water downstream but not upstream of the mill.
Under the settlement terms, Ox must submit a study and cleanup plan for the lagoons and have the mill’s closed-loop wastewater system evaluated by a third party. The company must also sign a consent order to cleanup PFAS in stormwater discharge.
Ox does not admit liability under settlement terms. The company must also pay roughly $103,000 in state attorney fees and enforcement costs.
Under the consent order with Grove, in return for cleanup payments, the state agreed not to sue the company or certain members of the Traeger family, which founded and led Artistic Carton.
The case follows other PFAS-related lawsuits and settlements brought by a special outside counsel team within Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office against manufacturers and other entities which have left PFAS contamination behind in Michigan.