EPA National News: EPA Press Advisory: (1) Sabine Transportation Fined for Ocean Dumping; (2) California Real Estate Developer Sentenced for Illegal Asbestos Removal in Idaho; (3) Texas Painting Company and Owner Plead Guilty in Lead Paint Waste Case
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EPA Press Advisory: (1) Sabine Transportation Fined for Ocean Dumping; (2) California Real Estate Developer Sentenced for Illegal Asbestos Removal in Idaho; (3) Texas Painting Company and Owner Plead Guilty in Lead Paint Waste Case

Following are some Agency developments which may interest you. If you need more information on any of these subjects, call the appropriate contact.

News for release: (Washington, D.C. – August 18, 2004)

Weekly Enforcement Wrap-Up

Contact: Christopher Lagan 202-564-7338 / lagan.christopher@epa.gov

(1) Sabine Transportation Fined for Ocean Dumping

Sabine Transportation of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been sentenced to pay a $2 million fine for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Shipping (APPS). The court also ordered that $1 million of the fine be declared a bounty and shared by three whistle-blowers from the crews of the SS Juneau and SS Trinity. Sabine operates a fleet of ships that carry cargo from the United States to foreign countries. In its guilty plea, Sabine admitted to several violations including: discharging diesel fuel-contaminated wheat into the Pacific Ocean from the S.S. Juneau, discharging plastic wastes and oily diesel fuel cargo from the S.S. Trinity into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as failing to maintain required records and discharging oily waste from the S.S. Colorado, S.S. Guadalupe and S.S. Sea Princess. Dumping oil and other wastes into the open seas can harm fish and other aquatic life. The sentence was handed down in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa in Cedar Rapids. The case was investigated by the St. Louis office of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Coast Guard and the FBI. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cedar Rapids and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
(2) California Real Estate Developer Sentenced for Illegal Asbestos Removal in Idaho

Aubrey Lewis Ritz of Sacramento, Calif., was sentenced to serve five years of probation, the first year of which will be spent in home confinement and pay a $100,000 fine for violating the Clean Air Act by failing to conduct a thorough asbestos inspection at the Stardust Hotel in Idaho Falls prior to undertaking a renovation project. Failure to follow federal asbestos workplace practices can expose workers and others who enter an asbestos workplace to the inhalation of asbestos fibers which are a known cause of lung cancer, a lung disease known as “asbestosis” and mesothelioma, a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. Fifty thousand dollars of the fine will be given to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for a project in Southeast Idaho. Sentencing was handed down on Aug. 1 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho in Pocatello. The case was investigated by the Boise office of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with contract assistance from EPA Region 10. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.
(3) Texas Painting Company and Owner Plead Guilty in Lead Paint Waste Case

Kerrville Painting Company Inc., of Kerrville, Texas, and its owner, Nick Muskie, also known as Nickolas Mouzakis, pleaded guilty to felony criminal violations that arose from sandblasting and painting work the company did in highway bridge contracts in northeast Arkansas in 1999 and 2000. Kerrville Painting pleaded guilty to conspiracy, illegal disposal of hazardous waste, illegal transportation of hazardous waste and illegal discharge of pollutants into the Black River from two different bridge locations. Muskie pleaded guilty to conspiracy and illegal disposal of hazardous waste. Kerrville Painting Company specialized in sandblasting and painting steel structures, primarily bridges, in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Bridge sandblasting and painting typically generates wastes contaminated with lead which must be disposed of properly to avoid exposure of the public, fish and wildlife to lead and lead compounds. Exposure to sufficient quantities of lead can cause neurological disorders, developmental disorders, birth defects, diseases of the blood and kidneys and even death. The pleas were entered on Aug. 9 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas in Little Rock. The case was investigated by the Dallas and Houston Offices of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Office of General Counsel, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office Environmental Protection Unit, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Little Rock.

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Release date:08/18/2004 Receive our News Releases Automatically by Email

 

 
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