Protecting the environment is a serious matter, and the EPA and other federal and state enforcement agencies do not hesitate to prosecute individuals or companies who violate the myriad of laws and regulations that prohibit actions which adversely affect the environment. Sometimes, it helps to be reminded of what can happen if laws are ignored by taking a lesson from those who came before us. The following are summaries of actions taken by the EPA against violators of environmental laws.

Protecting the Water in Oklahoma

In April 2000, a Kansas company, Allied Environmental Services, Inc. (Allied), its president Koteswara Attaluri, an Oklahoma company, Overholt Trucking and its owner Mac DeWayne Overholt were all sentenced for conspiring to violate the Safe Drinking Water Act and for fraud. Mac Overholt was also sentenced for violating the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Over a 15-month period, Allied removed more than 500,000 gallons of wastewater containing diesel fuel and kerosene from underground storage tanks at military facilities in Kansas and Missouri. A portion of the wastewater was transported to Oklahoma by Overholt Trucking where it was illegally stored or injected into oil wells in three different counties.

Attaluri, the president of Allied, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his participation in the scheme. Overholt was sentenced to serve more than seven years in prison for his illegal acts. In addition, Attaluri, Overholt, and Overholt Trucking were ordered to pay $1.27 million in cleanup costs.

Protecting the Florida Everglades

In another April 2000 action, the EPA brought charges against two Florida men for conspiring to violate the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The men were convicted on that charge and one of them, Ralph Dearden, was also found guilty on two counts of illegally disposing of hazardous waste. A third defendant also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.

Dearden was the owner and operator of D&B Paint Manufacturing Company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. From the 1970's until 1995, when the company ceased operations, it generated a variety of hazardous wastes including mercury, benzene, and methyl ethyl ketone, among others. While all three of these named substances are hazardous, benzene is particularly so, as it is a known cause of cancer.

The EPA investigation of the three defendants found that they conspired to dispose of forty 55-gallon drums of these and other hazardous wastes so that Dearden could save money on cleaning up his warehouse facility before renting it to one of the other defendants. To accomplish this illegal goal, the men dumped the gallons of hazardous waste near the Everglades National Park.

In August 2000, Dearden was sentenced to two years imprisonment and ordered to pay $117,800 in fines and restitution. He was also ordered to serve three years probation after his release from prison. The other defendant was sentenced to four months in prison and three years' probation, and was ordered to pay approximately $400 in fines.

Protecting Drinking Water

In March 2000, William J. McCarthy was charged with eighteen counts of violating the Safe Drinking Water Act. McCarthy was the Senior Chemist for the Lawrence, Massachusetts, drinking water filtration plant and was in charge of supervising water quality testing. The charges allege that he repeatedly falsified required drinking water quality test results. The Lawrence filtration system supplies water to more than 60,000 inhabitants of the area.

In August 2000, McCarthy pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to serve six months in home confinement as part of a two-year probation period. He was also ordered to pay $15,300 in fines and assessments.

Record Penalties in Florida Dumping Case

In August 2000, a joint venture company named Odebrecht-Metric and three of its employees pled guilty to negligently violating the Clean Water Act. Between January 1997 and March 1999, the defendants illegally disposed of construction waste, such as concrete and bridge pilings, by dumping the waste into the Florida East Bay and Pensacola Bay during their involvement in the construction of the Garcon Point Bridge.

The plea agreement entered into by the defendants included the payment by one defendant company making up the joint venture, Odebrecht Contractors of Florida, Inc., of a $1 million fine and the payment of almost $2.5 million in restitution to the Garcon Point Restoration Trust for the purpose of cleaning up and restoring the bays. That same defendant also agreed to pay $42,000 to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Law Enforcement, $20,500 to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, $10,500 to the Florida Department of Environmental Protections' Submerged Land Section, $2,000 to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office and $2,000 to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission's Marine Patrol.