Bankrupt corporation’s chief indicted of endangering the public and changing public records
The former president, treasurer and director of Lockhart Chemical is facing multiple charges after being arrested with regards to a 2022 chemical launch into the Flint river in Michigan, US. The event saw almost 60,000 litres of an oil chemical combination discharged from a Lockhart facility that manufacture rust-stopping components for the metalworking industry.
Michigan’s attorney general Dana Nessel declared the arrest of Rajinder Singh Minhas on 23 December 2024. Minhas faces multiple charges which involves considerable endangerment to the public, falsely changing a public document, violations of air pollution manage law and numerous counts of violating the state’s regulations on dangerous waste. If indicted, Minhas faces significant fines and imprisonment.
Three months later the spill, Lockhart was ordered to stop the usage of faulty wastewater and hurricane water transport systems and to rather pump waste offsite for dumping. One month after the organisation filed for bankruptcy.
The incident did not effects the drinking water of Flint city, which had formerly been sourced from the Flint river from 2014 to 2015 until a disaster caused by lead contamination led the city to return its water supply to Lake Huron.