FRANKFORT, KY (March 29, 2005) - Attorney General Greg Stumbo announced today a settlement reached by his Environmental Protection Branch with Dart Container Corporation, a Michigan-based company which owns and operates a facility in Horse Cave, Kentucky that manufactures plastic and foam products.

The $325,000 settlement comes after Dart was observed, in 1999, by the Environmental and Public Protection Agency (EPPC) piping discharge from a production line into a sinkhole that ran into Green River, near Mammoth Cave (at that time EPPC was known as the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet.)

The company agreed to immediately cease the discharge and settled the case with EPPC for $5,000 in October, 2003.

Attorney General Stumbo, whose Office has authority to challenge any environmentally damaging activity, was not satisfied with the settlement agreement between EPPC and Dart.

“I will use my Office to ensure that environmental violators don’t get off with a slap on the wrist,” Stumbo said. “This case is a prime example of the need for Attorney General supervision in environmental cases.”

The Agreed Settlement between the Office of the Attorney General and Dart was signed on Friday, March 25, 2005. Dart denies all wrongdoing.