Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) today announced that its Acuity
Specialty Products Group, Inc. (?ASP?)
subsidiary finalized the resolution of a federal environmental
investigation in a manner consistent with the tentative resolution
announced on April 4, 2007. ASP entered into a plea agreement with the
United States Department of Justice involving a Clean Water Act
violation related to ASP's pretreatment of
wastewater discharged to the City of Atlanta for treatment. The plea
agreement, which was accepted today by United States District Judge
Shoob, brings to an end a federal investigation into past practices at
ASP's facility on Seaboard Industrial
Boulevard in Atlanta, Georgia. The details of the investigation have
been previously disclosed in Acuity Brands'
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Under the plea agreement, ASP admitted to one felony count for failure
to meet the requirements of its wastewater pretreatment permit.
Consistent with the terms of the plea agreement, the Court today imposed
a $3.8 million fine on ASP and also placed ASP on unsupervised probation
for a term of three years. In addition, ASP has entered into a
three-year EPA-administered compliance agreement that is incorporated
into the probation requirements.
The conduct that was the subject of the plea agreement took place during
or prior to 2002 and did not result in any adverse environmental impact
or any regulatory noncompliance by the City of Atlanta. While ASP has
already resolved with the City the violation underlying the plea
agreement, ASP continues to discuss with the City whether another matter
raised in the investigation, involving past pumping of groundwater
through ASP's pretreatment system, warrants a
penalty.
Vernon J. Nagel, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of
Acuity Brands, stated: ?Upon learning of the
matters that were the subject of this federal investigation, we
commenced our own comprehensive internal investigation and cooperated
with the federal authorities. It is clear that the actions of certain
ASP employees were wrong and simply not consistent with the way we do
business. Those actions were directed by non-executive employees of ASP
who are no longer with the business. We have taken extensive corrective
actions to address the misconduct, including significant investments in
equipment, training, personnel, and compliance audit programs. As
previously announced, we accrued fully for the federal fine in prior
quarters. As we have also previously disclosed, we are in the process of
conducting additional soil and groundwater studies at our Seaboard
Industrial Boulevard site.?
Mr. Nagel concluded, ?We are pleased that this
wastewater matter has been resolved with the Department of Justice in a
manner that will allow ASP to pursue its many opportunities going
forward, including government business. We consider this resolution to
be an important, positive step forward as our current management team
looks to set an example of good environmental stewardship and corporate
citizenship.?
Acuity Brands, Inc., with fiscal year 2006 net sales of approximately
$2.4 billion, is comprised of Acuity Brands Lighting and Acuity
Specialty Products. Acuity Brands Lighting is one of the world's leading
providers of lighting fixtures and includes brands such as Lithonia
Lighting®, Holophane®,
Peerless®, Hydrel®,
American Electric Lighting®, Gotham®,
Carandini®, SpecLight®,
MetalOptics® and Antique Street Lamps?.
Acuity Specialty Products is a leading provider of specialty chemicals
and includes brands such as Zep®, Zep
Commercial®, Enforcer®,
and Selig?. Headquartered in Atlanta,
Georgia, Acuity Brands employs approximately 10,000 people and has
operations throughout North America and in Europe and Asia.
Acuity Brands, Inc., Atlanta
Company Contact:
Dan
Smith, 404-853-1423
bourse
