Newsroom
All News Releases By Date
PA NEBRASKA’S FIRST RCRA CRIME CASE RESULTS IN $500,000 FINE
Release Date: 06/06/97
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1997
NEBRASKA’S FIRST RCRA CRIME CASE RESULTS IN $500,000 FINE
In the first criminal conviction under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in Nebraska, Deeter Foundry Inc., of Lincoln, Neb., was fined $500,000 after it pleaded guilty on May 30, in U.S. Court for the District of Nebraska in Omaha to criminal charges of illegally disposing of hazardous waste between November 1991 and January 1994. Deeter operates a gray-iron foundry which manufactures tree grates, manhole covers and other municipal castings. Deeter used a cupola blast furnace to melt scrap metals and used a wet scrubber and a bag house to control air emission discharges from the furnace’s stack. Deeter admitted to illegally disposing of sludge from the scrubber and dust from the bag house which contained hazardous levels of lead and cadmium. The waste was deposited in unpermitted waste piles in the company’s yard, and was also mixed with waste sand from the foundry and removed from the site for use as fill material. In March 1994 Deeter paid a $300,000 administrative penalty for unlawful discharges of scrubber sludge that occurred in October 1991. In addition, Deeter is facing EPA and Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) administrative actions for site remediation. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, NDEQ and the Nebraska State Patrol.
R-89 # # #
Search this collection of releases | or search all news releases
View selected historical press releases from 1970 to 1998 in the EPA History website.
