Associated Press - July 2, 2009 8:44 AM ET

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has fined three wastewater utility companies owned by Jeff Pruett of West Monroe a total of $374,470.

Companies fined include Louisiana Land and Water Co., Grace Utilities and Utility Data Service Corp.

Pruett already faces 17 counts of federal environmental regulations violations after being indicted last month.

The fines were levied against Pruett as a part of a comprehensive civil-enforcement action coordinated with a federal and state environmental criminal investigation over the past few years. They are for additional water discharge civil violations independent from the criminal charges he faces in federal court. He has pleaded innocent to those charges, and no trial date has been set.

Information from: The News-Star, http://www.thenewsstar.com

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