New Hampshire: EPA and DOJ Protect Water Resources and Communities through Agreement to Stop Illegal Discharges

WASHINGTON- Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement agreement with Old Dutch Mustard Co., Inc., a mustard and vinegar manufacturing company, resolving violations of the Clean Water Act at its facility in Greenville, New Hampshire. Under the agreement, the company will pay a civil penalty of $50,000 and implement a comprehensive environmental compliance program.

"This action demonstrates that EPA will pursue repeat violators and hold them accountable through formal enforcement in court," said EPA Assistant Administrator Jeffrey A. Hall of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "This consent decree finally resolves decades of noncompliance with the Clean Water Act by ensuring that the company will comprehensively identify and address all sources of pollution into the tributary that runs through the facility. EPA will achieve compliance with the law."

"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 Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department's Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). "We are committed to upholding the rule of law, including the Clean Water Act."

"Old Dutch Mustard spent years polluting the Souhegan River," said U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan for the District of 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."

Between 2019 and 2026, the facility violated its stormwater discharge permit that resulted in acidic pollutant discharges into a tributary of the Souhegan River. The company has been subject to past enforcement actions by EPA, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES), and the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, resulting in the company being required to monitor the tributary as it passes through the facility. According to the complaint, on at least 1,728 days between November 2019 and December 2026, the company's monitoring results showed high levels of acidity, indicating unauthorized wastewater discharges from the facility. Also, the company failed to provide its compliance information to EPA in a timely manner, as required by the Clean Water Act.

To come into compliance, the company agreed to:

• Improve its monitoring efforts

• Thoroughly investigate any future discharges of pollutants to determine their cause and implement corrective measures to stop future discharges of pollutants

• Hire an independent consultant to identify current sources of environmental contamination.

Background

Old Dutch Mustard has been the subject of repeated enforcement efforts over the last two decades, including most recently for separate criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, to which the company and its president pled guilty in February 2025. In April 2026, the company president was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, while the company was placed on probation for five years and ordered to pay a $1.5 million fine and to establish environmental compliance and ethics programs.

The proposed consent decree was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire and is subject to a 30-day comment period. The complaint and the proposed consent decree are available on the DOJ's Proposed Consent Decree webpageExit EPA's website.