Midwest Sheets pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the federal Clean Water Act for two discharges in 2002 of more than 1,800 gallons of caustic soda, or sodium hydroxide, federal prosecutors said.
Company officials failed to notify the Tipton wastewater treatment plant of the discharges, which occurred when a storage tank overflowed, sending the chemical directly into the sewer system in the city about 30 miles north of Indianapolis, prosecutors said.
The highly concentrated chemical, which the company uses to make glue for corrugated cardboard, spilled into nearby Cicero Creek, killing 2,000 fish and disrupting Tipton's wastewater treatment plant for a week.
Tipton company fined for causing fish kill
US - Cardboard manufacturer Midwest Sheets Co. must pay a $600,000 fine following its guilty plea on Thursday to federal charges over a chemical spill that killed more than 2,000 fish.