  
9/25/2025
WT Staff
 Have you been harmed by industrial pollution in your local water body? Let us know, call 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email us at info@wtoh.us
Sep 25, 2025 629 pm EDT
Campbell Soup Supply Co has admitted to thousands of acts of illegal dumping in a sensitive Great Lakes watershed since 2018
Where are the enforcement agencies?
Campbell Soup, that humble tin can glamorized by Warhol, has been a staple in North American pantries for 150 years. The beloved brand touts a cheery, wholesome presence on line, Campbell’s Foundation "supports...healthy communities where our employees live", they say. Following the outcome of a civil trial last week, it is sinking in how badly we have been green-washed. Campbell's canning factory in Napoleon, Ohio abutts the east bank of the Maumee River, where non-compliant wastewater has been allowed to fall out freely through multiple discharge points since April of 2018. Judge Zouhary presided over the case in US District Court in northwest Ohio, where Campbell admitted to 5,400 violations of its discharge permit. Five thousand, four hundred violations of the public trust.
Environment America, Environment Ohio and Lake Erie Waterkeeper announced the conclusion of their joint civil action against the Campbell Soup Supply Company, LLC. The industrial food canner admitted to discharging non-compliant wastewater directly to the Maumee River from 2018 to 2024. While this would be considered a serious violation of the Clean Water Act in any location, it is especially egregious here. The site of the Campbell facility, Village of Napoleon - Maumee River watershed and Maumee River mainstem is rated impaired by the US EPA, How's My Waterway site. International agencies engaged in the study of Lake Erie hold the Maumee River watershed as the main source of pollutants feeding toxic bluegreen algae in Lake Erie, the primary source of drinking water for more than twelve million people.
Maumee River is a major tributary of the Great Lakes watershed, draining surface water runoff from northwest Ohio, parts of southeast Michigan and northeast Indiana into the shallow western basin of Lake Erie. Since the Toledo water crisis of 2014, where cyanobacteria in the raw drinking water intake line shut down the water supply for half a million people over several days, an all-out effort has ensued to identify where the algae feedstock is coming from, to curb it or cut it off. Federal, international and state agencies have collaborated to measure and monitor discharges feeding the Lake Erie HAB, convening and debating how to curb its growth.
Josh Kratka is the winning litigant, representing two Ohio citizens in their suit against Campbells. WT spoke with Mr. Kratka from his office at the National Environmental Law Center, seeking to understand why it took citizen action to bring this case to light. Kratka explained, citizen enforcement provisions were written into America's environmental laws decades ago. Legislators knew, federal and state agencies cannot always be relied upon to enforce environmental laws. As such, citizens personally harmed can pursue the polluters in court, with limitations.
In this case, Campbell Soup admitted to six and a half years of discharges of phosphorous, e.coli, oil and grease to the Maumee River from its facility at Napoleon, among others. The judgement document clearly states a precedent at law protecting the defendant, this case has proven harm to the individual citizens, however it does not determine liability for harm to the environment.
In Campbell's statement of September 16, spokesperson James Regan admits to thousands of discharges of pollutants in excess of the values permitted. From Cleveland.com Courts and Justice reporter Adam Ferrise, it is written, Campbell’s spokesman denied that pollution at the canning factory contributed to algal blooms in Lake Erie. "Importantly, the facility has had minimal, if any, adverse effects on the Maumee River or Lake Erie," is the statement attributed to Campbell's James Regan. While this may be infuriating for those closely following the Maumee River Total Daily Maximum Load plan, the burden on Campbell Soup for knowingly discharging phosphate, adding to the burden in Lake Erie and failing to correct it for six years is a matter to be determined on another day, in another court.
Ohio EPA is the state agency responsible for monitoring compliance with the US EPA's National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) permits in Ohio. According to an emailed statement from the Ohio EPA Press Secretary, "Ohio EPA is aware of the violations to Campbell Soup’s wastewater permit; the company submitted information about non-compliance multiple times between 2018 and 2024.
Our agency manages the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program for the state. Campbell’s Soup has an individual NPDES permit that is unique to the Napoleon facility.
Ohio EPA issued a Notice of Violation in 2020 and has been continuously working with the company to fix the problems and improve wastewater management, which includes developing a new state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant, which is planned for operation in 2028.
- Bryant Somerville, Ohio EPA Press Secretary
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is the lead agency for enforcement in this case. Ohio EPA regularly coordinates with our federal partners to enforce compliance with permit limits and to hold companies and permittees accountable to protect Ohio’s water resources."
What's good for the Soup is good for the Canner
US EPA Criminal Investigation Division has the ultimate authority to enforce the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act, Section 33 covers felony offenses: knowing and negligent discharge of pollutants to US waters without a permit. WT CrimeBox column covers historic environmental prosecutions, from EPA Criminal Investigation Division case briefs dating back to 1989 when the US EPA was granted enforcement authority.
US EPA Office of Media Relations and Risk Communications Office of Public Affairs (OPA) spokesperson Jeff Landis sent a brief email response dated Sept 23, 2025,
"I double-checked with our CID (Criminal Investigations Division), and they concluded that EPA has no information regarding criminal investigations related to discharges into the Maumee River."
As of now, it appears Campbells may be slow-walking the authorities, however has not falsified the discharge reports. As long as companies communicate truthfully, they seem to be get away with taking their sweet time correcting the illegal discharge issue.
The EPA CID falls hard upon the companies that falsify their discharge reports, and even moreso on those that conspire with others to mislead the inspectors. Referencing one of more than eight hundred and sixty criminal convictions in the USA under the CWA since 1989, the following quote was made concerning a company that hid discharge violations from the authorities four years. In 2012, $3.8 million dollars was the largest CWA fine issued in the State of Georgia. Case ID# CR_1219:
Acting U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates stated, "Employees showed a flagrant disregard for the environmental laws of the United States. Today’s sentence is the harshest sentence ever imposed on a company in the Northern District of Georgia for a violation of environmental laws. This sentence signals to the business community that it must comply with laws that protect our environment and that a failure to do so will result in prosecution and severe penalties."
What happens with Campbell Soup Supply Company now? Six years of knowing violation, as long as it is reported accurately and steps are taken toward resolving this, apparently does not yet warrant criminal investigation. What message does this send to other polluters? Let us know, do you think Campbell Soup Supply Co, LLC committed a Clean Water Act crime?
See last week's CrimeBox here, "Manufacturer dilutes wastewater samples to appear compliant with permit, sentenced six years later"
CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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