EPA National News: Press Advisory: (1) Massachusetts Yarn Company Sentenced on Clean Water Act Charges; (2) Bridge Project Manager Pleads Guilty in North Carolina; (3) Wyoming Man Convicted of Clean Water Violations Affecting Indian Lands; (4) Minnesota Warehouse/Supply Company Charged with Illegal Hazardous Waste Storage and Disposal
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Press Advisory: (1) Massachusetts Yarn Company Sentenced on Clean Water Act Charges; (2) Bridge Project Manager Pleads Guilty in North Carolina; (3) Wyoming Man Convicted of Clean Water Violations Affecting Indian Lands; (4) Minnesota Warehouse/Supply Company Charged with Illegal Hazardous Waste Storage and Disposal

Following are Agency developments that may interest you. If you need
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Enforcement Wrap-up

Contact: John Millett 202-564-7842 / millett.john@epa.gov

(1) Massachusetts Yarn Company Sentenced on Clean Water Act Charges

Dutton Yarn company, L.P., a yarn processing facility in Lowell, Mass., was ordered to pay a $300,000 fine on Oct. 5 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston for violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). In June, Dutton Yarn agreed to plead guilty to two counts of violating the CWA. The company was charged with negligently discharging pollution that depleted oxygen levels in receiving water. Pollution that depletes oxygen harms fish and aquatic life. As part of the sentence, Dutton Yarn must also establish an environmental compliance program. The case was investigated by the Boston Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston.

(2) Bridge Project Manager Pleads Guilty in North Carolina

Michael E. Hillyer of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., project manager for Balfour Beatty Construction Inc. (BBC), a subsidiary of the United Kingdom-based Balfour Beatty, PLC, pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in Raleigh, N.C., to conspiring to violate the Rivers and Harbors Act (RHA) and the Clean Water Act, and to a substantive violation of the RHA. As project manager for BBC, Hillyer oversaw the dredging of a portion of the Croatan Sound and supervised the discharge of the dredged spoil into the Sound in October 2002. BBC did not have a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to do this work. The violations occurred when BBC's employees removed a temporary load-out trestle that had been constructed in shallow water near Manns Harbor as part of the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge construction project. The five-mile bridge spans the Sound from Manns Harbor to Manteo. 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 trestle. As a result, 5500 cubic yards of dredged spoil was expelled from the channel and deposited on approximately 8.2 acres of habitat on the sound bottom. Croatan Sound has been designated as high quality waters, and covering habitat can injure fish and wildlife. When sentenced, Hillyer faces a maximum penalty of up to four years in prison and/or a maximum fine of up to $500,000. BBC and two other BBC employees have already pleaded guilty in this case. The case was investigated by the Charlotte Office of 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.
(3) Wyoming Man Convicted of Clean Water Violations Affecting Indian Lands

John Hubenka, of Riverton, Wyo., was found guilty by a jury on Sept. 28 in U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming on charges that he built unpermitted dikes in the Wind River in violation of the Clean Water Act. The dikes altered the course of the river and this resulted in 300 acres of tribal lands being cut off from the Wind River Reservation. Between March 1999 and November 1999, Hubenka conducted and managed dredging and construction activities in various locations as part of building three earthen dikes. The defendant used earth moving equipment to discharge rock, sand and other dredge and fill material into the river. Unpermitted discharge of dredge and fill material into rivers can harm fish and wildlife and separating tribal lands from an Indian reservation can create an economic burden on Indians who wish to use the lands for agricultural or other economic purposes. The case was investigated by the Denver Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division with legal support from EPA Region 8 in Denver. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cheyenne.

(4) Minnesota Warehouse/Supply Company Charged with Illegal Hazardous Waste Storage and Disposal

Roof Depot, which owned a store in Minneapolis, Minn., was charged on Sept. 27 in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in Minneapolis with allegedly violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. In September 1998, the company allegedly brought several pallet-loads of hazardous waste roofing cement, strippers and solvents to its facility on 28th Street in Minneapolis and stored them behind some buildings under a tarp. In March 1999, a former operations manager for Roof Depot allegedly ordered employees to bury these hazardous wastes in an unloading dock area that the company was filling and grading. The case was investigated by the Minneapolis Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of Hennepin County Environmental Services. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minneapolis.

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Release date:10/14/2004 Receive our News Releases Automatically by Email

 

 
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