Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality v. Bell Utilities of Mississippi, LLC

KING, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. Lawrence Elliott owned and operated the Black Creek Water and Waste-water systems in Forrest County from the 1990s until 2005. The systems are a few miles upstream of an area of Black Creek that is designated as a National Wild and Scenic River. Under Elliott’s ownership and operation, the systems suffered numerous violations of environmental regulations, including multiple illegal sewage discharges. Bell Utilities purchased the systems from Elliott in 2005 and vastly improved the situation, expending its own money in an attempt to bring the system into…