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EPA ENFORCEMENT NEWS BRIEF
Utah Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Environmental, Other Crimes
A Utah man was sentenced to 20 years in jail for illegally dumping pollutants in violation of federal clean water and hazardous waste regulations and for illegally possessing firearms and aggravated assault on law enforcement officers. This includes the maximum jail term for Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations. Last March, the man assaulted EPA and other law enforcement officers when they attempted to arrest him in Marathon, Florida.
In September 2007, he was indicted on charges related to illegally dumping various pollutants onto the ground and into a drain that led to the treatment plant operated by the South Davis Sewer Improvement District in West Bountiful, Utah, between October 2004 and April 2005. The treatment plant had a permit to discharge treated effluent to the Jordan River, which empties into the Great Salt Lake. According to court records, the man instructed his employees to dispose of industrial wastes by dumping them onto the ground and into a sanitary sewer drain, which fed directly to the wastewater treatment plant. One of the wastes, nonylphenol, is a powerful organic chemical and heavy-duty industrial cleaner that is toxic to aquatic life. The actions allegedly caused the plant to violate permit limits for acute toxicity 22 times. Previously, government officials from the local sewer district prohibited the man's company from discharging to the sewer system because its wastes had routinely exceeded limits for certain pollutants.
The man owned and operated a company that mixed and sold chemical products used in the trucking, construction, and concrete industries. In April 2008, 2 months before his trial, the man became a fugitive when he failed to appear in court, as required by the conditions of his release and bond. In December 2008, EPA received a tip from the public regarding his potential whereabouts after the man was listed on the EPA's fugitive website (http://www.epa.gov/fugitives)
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Employee Complaint Results in $788,000 OSHA Fine for St. Louis Employer
An employee’s complaint prompted an OSHA investigation that led the agency to propose fines totaling $788,000 for the John J. Steuby Co. of St. Louis, Missouri. OSHA issued 12 willful, 37 serious, one repeat, and three other-than-serious citations for alleged violations observed during an inspection of the Steuby Co. plant that began on July 13, 2005. The company manufactures machined metal products for the automotive, appliance, bearing, ordinance, hydraulic, plumbing hardware and commercial-fittings industries.
OSHA alleges that the John J. Steuby Co. failed to address machine-guarding issues despite its history of injuries and warnings from workers' compensation carriers about the conditions of the machines. The agency says the company also failed to perform lockout/tagout to prevent machinery from starting up during maintenance or repair, issuing a willful citation. The Steuby Co. has 15 working days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
