MISSISSIPPI POTASH, INC. PLEADS GUILTY TO VIOLATING
THE MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and David C. Iglesias, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced today that Mississippi Potash, Inc. pleaded guilty in federal district court in Albuquerque, New Mexico to one count of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The defendant was charged by an information filed September 26, 2003 with three counts of taking (killing) migratory birds in violation of the Act. According to the information, Mississippi Potash, Inc. discharged waste products from some of its potash mining operations in Carlsbad, New Mexico into a natural playa lake called Laguna Toston until February 2001. These waste products included significant amounts of sodium salts. Birds exposed to such high salinity waste water experience a high mortality rate.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it unlawful for any person to take or kill any migratory bird without a permit or other authorization. Three mortality events are cited in the information, dating from 1998 through 2003 and involving the deaths of a total of three Northern Shoveler Ducks, one Ruddy Duck, one Purple Gallinule, and four Common Goldeneyes. Each of these species are migratory birds protected under the Act.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Mississippi Potash, Inc. has agreed to pay the maximum fine of $15,000 for one count of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The agreement also incorporates, as a condition of probation, a remediation plan for Laguna Toston funded with $237,500 placed in an escrow account by Mississippi Chemical Corporation, the parent company of Mississippi Potash, Inc.

The investigation of this case was led by Special Agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with assistance from biologists with the New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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