The president and plant manager of Gold Coast Commodities made their initial appearances Thursday at the Thad Cochran Federal Courthouse in Jackson on felony charges of illegally discharging industrial waste into Jackson's sewer system.

Gold Coast president Thomas Douglas Jr., 61, and plant manager John Welch Sr., 64, were charged in a nine-count indictment that was unsealed Sept. 2. The charges include conspiracy and making false statements in addition to the illegal dumping, federal officials said in a news release.

Gold Coast refined used cooking oils and other animal and agricultural fats into ingredients for animal feeds, fertilizer and other products, according to the indictment.

Click here to read the full indictment.

Click here to read Robert Douglas' indictment.

Click here to read Andrew Walker's indictment.

The indictments come a week after Gold Coast co-owner and vice president Robert David Douglas, 60, of Flowood, pleaded guilty to unlawful discharge of pollutants, a violation of the Clean Water Act. He is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 9.

Jackson has been plagued by major problems with its water and sewage in recent years. It is unclear if or how the alleged violations by Gold Coast factored into Jackson's water issues.

In a quarterly update, Jackson officials reported to the Environmental Protection Agency, the city reported 235 sanitary water overflows, or SSOs, which resulted in more than 52 million gallons of raw sewage being released into Mississippi's waterways.

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It is unclear if Robert Douglas is related to Thomas Douglas.

Thomas Douglas and Welch are set to stand trial Nov. 7 in the Mississippi Southern District Court. If convicted, the men face up to five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and three years for each of five charges of illegal discharge of industrial waste. In addition, Thomas Douglas faces an additional five years for each of two charges and Welch for one charge of making false statements or involvement in a scheme to conceal material fact, for a maximum of 30 years for Douglas and 25 years for Welch.

The day after Robert Douglas pleaded guilty, Gold Coast Commodities issued a news release casting blame on the vendor it hired to dispose of the industrial waste.

Gold Coast officials said the company, located in Brandon, hired Rebel High Velocity Sewer Services to legally dispose of the company’s waste and believed the company was doing so legally since it had stellar ratings with the Better Business Bureau and was in good standing with the Mississippi Secretary of State's office.

"There was no reason to believe that Rebel High Velocity was improperly disposing of wastewater after leaving our facility," the company said. "Thankfully, there was no environmental impact, no damage to infrastructure, and no person harmed from the unlawful actions of Rebel High Velocity. 

"It is important to point out that negligence, in this case, means Gold Coast hired a vendor to properly dispose of wastewater, and that vendor did not do the job they were hired to do. At the end of the day, we hired an expert to protect the environment and surrounding communities. The mistake made here was to fully trust that Rebel High Velocity followed their stated process and lawfully did the job they were hired to do.”

The full environmental impact is unknown at this time. Any pollutant is a violation of the Clean Water Act.

Rebel High Velocity owner Andrew Walker was charged in August 2020 with illegal discharge of industrial waste and conspiracy. He pleaded guilty in January 2021 but no record of sentencing is on file.

Investigators with the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Attorney's office disagree. In Welch and Thomas Douglas' indictment, federal officials claim the company has numerous citations for similar violations, possibly going back as early as 1995.

In February 1995, the company was issued a permit to release pretreated waste into the Jackson Wastewater Treatment System. In April that year, company officials said it had not begun using the system for waste disposal but a month later Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality inspectors investigating a sewage backup downstream from Gold Coast determined that fat and grease in the sewer line was the likely cause of the sewage backups and overflows, according to the indictment.

The indictment lists several other examples of Gold Coast Commodities failing to properly treat waste before disposing of it and other related violations in subsequent years up to 2017.

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