Compass Minerals International Inc
CMP
Materials
2
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Compass Minerals International is a major extractive company whose primary business is the mining of salt, sulfate of potash specialty fertilizers, and magnesium chloride. Its operations include large-scale underground and solution mining facilities in North America and the United Kingdom. The company derives the vast majority of its revenue from these non-fuel mineral extraction activities.
The company has a documented pattern of regulatory failures. In September 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled charges against Compass Minerals for misleading investors. The SEC found that from 2017 to 2018, the company made repeated misrepresentations about its plans to reduce costs and about production levels at its key Ogden, Utah facility. The Commission’s order (Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-21149) stated these misstatements violated antifraud, reporting, and internal accounting controls provisions of federal securities laws. Compass Minerals agreed to pay a $12.5 million penalty without admitting or denying the findings.
Compass Minerals International operates a major salt mine at Cargill Deicing Technology in Lansing, New York, which extracts salt from beneath Cayuga Lake. The mine’s operation involves the discharge of highly saline, chloride-contaminated water into the lake, a practice regulated under a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit. Monitoring has shown these discharges contribute to elevated chloride levels in the lake, threatening aquatic life and water quality in a critical Finger Lakes watershed.
The company’s environmental management at this site has drawn regulatory scrutiny. In 2022, Compass Minerals entered a consent order with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to address ongoing violations of its SPDES permit, including exceedances of chloride limits. The order required the company to fund a supplemental environmental project and pay a significant civil penalty. This enforcement action documents a pattern of operational impact leading to toxic contamination of a freshwater ecosystem.
Research Sources
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Companies appear on our exclusion list based on our investment judgment — not because they've done anything illegal. This is a difference of values and opinion, not an accusation of wrongdoing. Exclusion does not constitute a recommendation against investing in any company, and absence from the list does not constitute a recommendation to invest.
This information is provided for educational and transparency purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice. Data is drawn from independent watchdogs, NGOs, government registries, and Ethical Capital's ongoing research — see Research Sources for the full list.
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