In a courtroom drama taking a hard stance on environmental crimes, David Polston, the chief executive of Inland Recycling, has admitted his role in sullying Texas waterways, according to the Travis County District Attorney's Office. Polston pleaded guilty to the felony offense of intentionally allowing industrial wastewater from his company's facility to seep into Skull Creek, a waterway that contributes to the ecologically vital Colorado River, as reported by KXAN.

In a judicial twist, even though the pollution occurred in Colorado County, the Texas Water Code has jurisdictional elasticity stretching those county lines, allowing the case to be pursued by prosecutors in Travis County, where the jury would eventually indict Inland Recycling in December of 2021, culminating in a guilty plea and a weighty fine of $75,000 as part of the CEO's mea culpa, which unfolded after a collaborative inter-agency probe into the company's sketchy environmental practices, according to KVUE.

This case of deliberate pollution dates back to February 2019, when uncanny sheens and a petroleum stench over Skull Creek hinted at the malpractice. The subsequent investigation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) alongside the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department dug up unsettling levels of pollutants far surpassing legal limits, a discovery of neglect that put Inland Recycling squarely in hot water.

Travis County District Attorney José Garza expressed gratitude for the collaboration that brought this case to justice. The government bodies involved have jointly woven a net of accountability, smothering the possibilities for such violations to slip through the cracks in the future, “Our office is grateful for the hard work and dedication of our staff and partners who worked together to hold the defendant accountable,” Garza said, as detailed by KVUE.