 | ||
|
National News |
 |
 | ||
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||
|
|
|
EPA Press Advisory: (1) Pennsylvania Company Pleads Guilty in Multi-State Wastewater Pollution Case; (2) Waste Disposal Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Hazardous Waste Dumping in Alabama; (3) Bridge Contractor Pleads Guilty to Water Violations in North Carolina; (4) Pennsylvania Company and Owner Indicted on Water ChargesFollowing are some Agency developments which may interest you. If you need News for release: (Washington, D.C. -- May 25, 2004) Weekly Enforcement Wrap Up Cynthia Bergman, 202-564-9828 / bergman.cynthia@epa.gov Pennsylvania Company Pleads Guilty in Multi-State Wastewater Pollution Case The PQ Corporation of Valley Forge, Pa. pled guilty on May 13 to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) at its plants in St. Louis, Mo., Chester, Pa., and Baltimore, Md. by improperly discharging wastewater into public sewers and surface waters. The previous charges filed in three Federal Districts against PQ were combined into one case in Maryland court. According to the plea agreement, PQ will pay a $450,000 fine, provide $60,000 in restitution to the City of Baltimore, $47,000 to the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority, serve three years probation and pay $50,000 to fund community service projects. PQ’s facilities manufacture a variety of inorganic chemicals including water-soluble sodium silicates that are used in detergents, silica gel, adhesives and catalysts. The March 2004 charges claimed that PQ discharged wastewater in violation of applicable CWA pretreatment requirements from its St. Louis and Chester facilities into sewer systems operated by Metropolitan St. Louis and Delaware County. PQ was also charged with discharging wastewater without a CWA permit from its Baltimore facility into U.S. waters. Discharging improperly treated wastewater into sewers can damage sewage treatment equipment and prevent proper sewage treatment. Unpermitted discharge of wastewater can also harm fish and wildlife and make the waters unsafe for recreational or drinking water purposes. The case was investigated by the Washington, Philadelphia and St. Louis Area Offices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, and the Metropolitan Sewer District of St. Louis with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It has been prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in St. Louis, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Waste Disposal Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Hazardous Waste Dumping in Alabama On May 17, Don Milton White, a private contractor from Mobile, Ala., pled guilty to two counts of violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). White contracted with the Escambia County, Fla. Utility Authority to transport and dispose of wastes from its wastewater treatment facility. The wastes included oils, tar, paint wastes, hydraulic fluid and solvents, which are required under RCRA to be disposed of by a licensed hazardous waste disposal facility. Instead, White dumped these chemicals at separate locations throughout Southern Alabama. Of the hundreds of gallons of wastes White illegally discarded, some was highly corrosive liquid regulated as hazardous waste under federal law. Dumping waste oils, fluids and solvents on the ground can create a contamination hazard for humans and wildlife. The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Area Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, EPA's Emergency Response Branch and the FBI. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Mobile and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Bridge Contractor Pleads Guilty to Water Violations in North Carolina Balfour Beatty Construction, Inc. (BBC), a subsidiary of the United Kingdom company, Balfour Beatty, PLC, pled guilty on May 17 to violating both the Rivers and Harbors Act and the Clean Water Act. In its plea, BBC admitted to illegally acting without an Army Corps of Engineers permit in Oct. 2002, when it dredged a portion of the Croatan Sound in North Carolina, and discharged the dredged spoil into the Sound. The violations occurred when BBC’s employees removed a temporary load-out trestle that had been constructed in shallow waters near Manns Harbor. The construction was part of the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge project, which built a five-mile bridge spaning the Croatan Sound from Manns Harbor to Manteo, N.C. In order to get a crane to the trestle site, BBC employees used backwash from a tugboat propeller to cut a channel next to the bridge trestle. As a result, 5500 cubic yards of dredged spoil was expelled from the channel and deposited on 8.2 acres of habitat on the sound bottom. Croatan Sound has been designated as high quality waters by the federal government because it is an essential area for spawning fish and/or wildlife. Covering such a habitat with spoil can damage fish and wildlife. When sentenced, BBC faces a maximum penalty of up to $200,000 and/or up to five years probation on each count. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Pennsylvania Company and Owner Indicted on Water Charges Chester McNally and his company, Keystone Insulator-Cleaner, Inc.of Bedford, Pa., were indicted May 19 on one charge of conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act (CWA) and two charges of violating the CWA. The indictment alleges that from Sept. 2001 to Apr. 2003, McNally and Keystone conspired with others to dump wastes into Imlertown Run and adjacent wetlands located on McNally’s property in Bedford. The indictment further alleges that around Sept. 2001, McNally and Keystone dumped both household waste and waste from the operation of Keystone vehicles into the run and wetlands. The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Area Office of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh. An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law. R100 ### Release date:05/25/2004 Receive our News Releases Automatically by Email
|
|
|
|
 | ||
|
EPA Home | Privacy and Security Notice | Contact Us
URL: Last Revised: 05/25/2004 02:14:50 PM
|