Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/23/2024) The director of Lockhart Chemical Company is facing 39 felonies and misdemeanor charges related to the 2022 Flint River oil spill. 

Attorney General Dana Nessel, who said it is "unusual" to criminally charge this type of case, and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson announced multiple charges against Lockhart president Rajinder Singh Minhas on Monday during a press conference held at the sheriff's office. 

"To underscore the culpability of Mr. Minhas, this facility had no safety managers on site daily," Nessel said. "The only person in charge was Rajinder Minhas. Mr. Minhas ran this chemical factory with a mentality geared towards keeping operational costs low and profits high, to patch bullet holes with band-aids and to keep the public safe with all the might and muster of a series of patchwork of bare minimum efforts. The business model of practice here led to criminal violations of Michigan's environmental laws, including falsifying records and covering up his dirty tracks." 

Minhas, 60, of Rochester, is charged with one count each of forgery, uttering and publishing, water resources protection violations, including endangerment to public health, and failure to report violations of hazardous waste. 

Minhas, who was arraigned last week, also faces 11 misdemeanor counts of violating air pollution control, nine counts of violations related to liquid industrial waste and six counts of violating hazardous waste part, permits or rules, according to Genesee County District Court records. He returns to court Jan. 2 for a probable cause conference. 

Minhas faces up to 14 years in prison if he is convicted as charged and a total of more than $1 million in fines. 

The Flint-based chemical processing facility manufactured rust-preventative additives for the metal working industry. 

On June 15, 2022, about 15,000 gallons of an oil-chemical mixture was released into the Flint River, which authorities traced back to Lockhart. 

Nessel said chemical fingerprinting analysis confirmed that the oil chemical mixture matched the material leaving Lockhart's facility. 

In September 2022, the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy ordered Lockhart to immediately stop its use of defective wastewater and storm water conveyance systems, and soon after, Lockhart filed for bankruptcy. 

Both the state and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been involved in the bankruptcy to ensure the facility is properly managed to avoid future disasters, Nessel said. 

Swanson said the "crime scene spanned 22 miles," and took crews working 12- to 16-hour days for three weeks to clean up the site.  

Swanson said examples of Minhas' premeditation to criminal behavior was evident in the falsified records, which showed employees who had "forced to make" adjustments to data that Minhas then submitted as valid. 

"I saw with my own eyes records that were falsified at the order of the defendant," the sheriff said. " …  These are ticking time bombs for a community.  … These are people's lives. These are businesses. These are people's recreational endeavors and when a company comes in, especially somebody who's not from this area and has no regard for knowing what Flint has just suffered in 2015 and (2016) to do that, we're here today to answer."