Connecticut Manufacturer to Pay for Toxic Discharges

A manufacturing company in Branford, Connecticut is facing sentencing over toxic discharges released into the Branford River and Long Island Sound.

Officials say Atlantic Wire’s repeated discharges of toxic wastewater between 2005 and early 2008 killed hundreds of crabs. The company will be sentenced this Friday in U.S. District Court in Hartford.

Connecticut authorities say Atlantic Wire has agreed to pay $1.5 million, and to spend nearly $900,000 to clean up its site.

The company says in court papers that while a $1.5 million fine would be appropriate, no fine should be imposed because of its inability to pay. The company says it has cleaned up the site.

Atlantic Wire is closing following a bankruptcy filing last year.

The company has pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act.