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1. EPA ANNOUNCES PROGRAM TO FUND WATER SECURITY TRAINING FOR MEDIUM-SIZED COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEMS, 2. WHITMAN APPOINTS NEW MEMBERS TO THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND TECHNOLOGY (NACEPT), 3. WISCONSIN MAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL CHEMICAL WEAPON POSSESSION, 4. INDIANA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATOR INDICTED, 5. FLORIDA WOMAN SENTENCED IN MICHIGAN ON HAZARDOUS WASTE CHARGES, 6. FLORIDA MAN INDICTED FOR FALSIFYING ENGINE EMISSIONS TESTS, 7. FORMER DEMOLITION CREW LEADER CONVICTED OF DUMPING ASBESTOS INTO THE SEAPress Advisory EPA ANNOUNCES PROGRAM TO FUND WATER SECURITY TRAINING FOR MEDIUM-SIZED COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEMS John Millett 202-564-7842/millett.john@epa.gov EPA has announced a competitive assistance agreement program to support community drinking water utilities’ efforts in strengthening and enhancing the security of their infrastructure. This program will focus on approximately 480 medium-sized community water systems, which provides drinking water to more than 50,000 but less than 100,000 people. EPA has allocated $1.7 million for this cooperative agreement program, which will complement EPA’s support to large drinking water systems serving 100,000 or more people and its grant program to states to help community water systems serving more than 3,300 but less than 50,000 people. All three actions contribute to the EPA’s goal and objectives of protecting the nation’s water supplies. Non-profit organizations capable of providing training and technical assistance to drinking water systems are eligible to apply for the total amount or a portion of these funds for the medium-sized system training. These organizations, selected through competition, will offer a variety of training approaches to medium-sized water systems on conducting assessments of their vulnerability to terrorist or other intentional attacks and preparing or revising emergency response plans based on the results of their vulnerability assessments. These systems must submit a completed vulnerability assessment to EPA no later than Dec. 31, 2003. Recipients of these funds will also deliver a limited amount of direct technical assistance to help utilities with the completion of this requirement, which was set forth in the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. Proposals must be received on or before April 17, 2003. Final awards will be announced in May 2003 by direct notification to the successful applicants. The Request for Proposals is posted on EPA’s website at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/security/pdfs/train2_rfp.pdf, as well as the Federal government-wide Web site for Federal Business Opportunities – www.bizops.gov . WHITMAN APPOINTS NEW MEMBERS TO THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND TECHNOLOGY (NACEPT) Wanda Loving 202-564-7822/loving.wanda@epa.gov U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman announced the new members to the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT), which was established in 1988 as an independent national council to advise the EPA Administrator on a wide range of domestic and international environmental policy, management, and technology issues. The Council has approved and published more than 50 major reports containing over 1,000 recommendations to the EPA Administrators. The following individuals were appointed to NACEPT: Dr. Valerie Petit Wilson, Deputy Director, Tulane/Xavier Center for Bio-environmental Research, Tulane University (reappointed); Ms. Cindy Angelelli, Managing Director, Duke Energy Corp.; Mr. Joel M. Bolstein, Partner, Environmental Law Practice Group, Fox Rothschild (formerly of Dechert); The Honorable Brian Brennan, Deputy Mayor, City of San Buenaventura, Calif.; Dr. Richard S. Eckaus, Ford International Professor of Economics Emeritus, MIT; Mr. John Erickson, Policy Advisor, Nebraska Governor’s Office of Policy Research; Mr. Harrison B. Rue, Executive Director, Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission; and Ms. Frances Seymour, Director, Institutions and Governance Program, World Resources Institute. Under the leadership of Ms. Dorothy Bowers (NACEPT Chair), they will join the current members in identifying emerging trends, issues, and challenges facing EPA. ENFORCEMENT WRAP-UP Teresa Libera 202-564-7873/libera.teresa@epa.gov WISCONSIN MAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL CHEMICAL WEAPON POSSESSION Joseph Konopka of DePere, Wis., was sentenced to 13 years in prison on March 13 for illegally possessing a chemical weapon. Konopka previously pled guilty to illegally possessing bottles containing potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide and containers filled with other chemicals. The defendant had taken the chemicals from an abandoned warehouse in Chicago and then stored the chemicals in a Chicago subway substation. Since cyanide can cause significant brain damage and death, the discovery of these chemicals led to a thorough search which required a significant portion of the subway system to be shut down. In addition to this crime, Konopka also was convicted on state and federal charges for vandalizing a variety of properties, including power lines, air navigation equipment, and radio and television transmission towers. Konopka, who calls himself “Dr. Chaos,” claim she was the leader of an anarchist group. The sentencing came from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago. The investigation was led by the FBI, with the assistance of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the City of Chicago law enforcement authorities. INDIANA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATOR INDICTED The indictment of David Van Dyke of Warsaw, Ind., for violating multiple counts of the Clean Water Act was announced on March 12 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in South Bend. The indictment alleges Van Dyke, who was the certified operator of the Warsaw Wastewater Treatment Plant, illegally discharged solids, sludge and diesel fuel into Walnut Creek, which is a tributary of the Tippecanoe River. The discharges damaged both Walnut Creek and the Tippecanoe River. Van Dyke then tried to hide the illegal discharges and permit violations by altering and falsifying lab and plant operating reports, which are submitted the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The case was investigated by the Chicago Area Office of the EPA Criminal Investigation Division and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources; it is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Bend. An indictment is merely an accusation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law. FLORIDA WOMAN SENTENCED IN MICHIGAN ON HAZARDOUS WASTE CHARGES Johan March of Rotunda West, Fla., was sentenced for her conviction on charges of illegally transporting, storing and disposing of hazardous waste in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The sentence was imposed on March 10 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit and will include a penalty of 21 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. She also was ordered to pay $175,819.48 in cleanup costs to the EPA Superfund Program. The defendant inherited the assets of a then defunct Detroit parts cleaning and coating company, called the Utility Enameling Corp. The inherited assets included property where 55-gallon drums of waste solvents, acids and paints were stored. Between April 1995 and November 1995, March illegally stored approximately 100-125 of the drums and had the transported to New York, where they were abandoned. Abandoning drums of hazardous waste in public areas creates a potentially serious health hazard. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with the assistance of the EPA National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit. FLORIDA MAN INDICTED FOR FALSIFYING ENGINE EMISSIONS TESTS Michael C. Shetley, owner and operator of FAPCO Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., was indicted on March 12 for allegedly submitting a false engine emissions report to the U.S. EPA. The emissions reports are required under the Clean Air Act and Shetley had been hired by the Hercules Engine Company of Canton, Ohio to conduct an emissions test and submit the results to the EPA. Shetley conducted the test in early 1998 on one Hercules diesel engine and then on March 18, 1998, he submitted a false result to the government. His report concealed that the diesel engine exceeded emission standards for smoke. Engines exceeding the emissions standards for smoke can contribute to the degradation of air quality and worsen the health problems of people who have lung disease and respiratory illnesses. The indictment was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison and/or a maximum fine of up to $250,000, if convicted. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cleveland. An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law. FORMER DEMOLITION CREW LEADER CONVICTED OF DUMPING ASBESTOS INTO THE SEA Ronald Cook of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada was convicted by a jury for violating the Ocean Dumping Act and the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The conviction came from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Cook lead a demolition crew charged with removing asbestos-containing material (ACM) from the Muskegon Clipper. The ship was being converted into a gambling casino and was being transported from San Diego to Mobile, Alabama, through the Panama Canal. Witnesses reported the demolition crew, under Cook’s instructions, dumped hundreds of trash bags filled with ACM into the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean Sea. Dumping waste materials into the ocean has the potential to harm aquatic life, especially life forms that live on the bottom of the sea. The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Area Office of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who aided in Cook’s extradition from Canada. It is being prosecuted by the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. R076 # # # Release date:03/26/2003 Receive our News Releases Automatically by Email
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