Acting on behalf of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office obtained a temporary restraining order against Inland Recycling LLC, Inland Environmental Remediation, Inc., and David Polston of Altair, Texas, after a Travis County District Court found evidence showing the defendants violated state laws protecting water quality.

“Unless the defendants are restrained, industrial solid waste and other waste will discharge from the facility” into or adjacent to Skull Creek in Colorado County, rendering water harmful to the public health and environment, the court concluded. A hearing is set on May 2 to consider Attorney General Paxton’s request for the temporary restraining order to become a temporary injunction.

“The Texas Legislature has enacted strong environmental laws to protect our natural resources for all Texans, and we have a duty to stop the damage and hold the polluters accountable when resources like Texas creeks become polluted,” Attorney General Paxton said. “My office will do everything in its power to see that the Inland Recycling defendants comply with state law and pay for any damage done to water quality.”

Under terms of the temporary restraining order, Inland Recycling and its co-defendants must immediately cease and prevent all discharge of waste from its site at 6254 Highway 71, Altair, TX 77412, and stop accepting any unauthorized waste at the site for storage, processing or disposal; contain all waste at its site in covered containers; and drain liquid-form waste from open-air containment basins and place all of it in covered containers.

 View a copy of the TRO here.