The U.S. Justice Department added the name of Johnson Matthey P.L.C., a multi-national specialty chemicals company, to its case against a West Valley City silver and metal refiner, Johnson Matthey Inc., which was charged last spring in a 29-count indictment. The company was charged with environmental crimes for allegedly tampering with pollution tests and reports that resulted in too much selenium flowing into Utah waters.

Calls to the company's U.S. affiliates and their lawyers were not returned. And a Justice Department declined to discuss what led federal environmental attorneys to file the new charge.

But, in a release announcing the indictment Wednesday, the Justice Department said “the parent company [allegedly] played a role in conspiring to conceal the release of the contaminated wastewater into the sewers.” The charges include conspiracy, concealment by trick, scheme and device, and violations of the Clean Water Act.

If convicted, the U.S. arm would face a maximum penalty of $12.5 million, and the parent company would face a fine of $500,000. David McKelvie, the West Valley City plant's former general manager, faces fines of $4.5 million and 90 years in prison, while plant manager Paul Card Greaves faces up to 125 years in prison and $6.3 million in fines.

The initial defendants recently asked for another year to prepare for trial. In court papers, they indicate the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility bungled the pollution limits and, as a result, the limits the defendants allegedly violated are unenforceable.

They have moved in 3rd District Court to have the water district's limits on selenium invalidated. If they succeed, up to a dozen of the criminal charges could be thrown out.

fahys@sltrib.com