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Oregon Radiator Repair Company, Former Manager Sentenced

Release Date: 4/25/2002
Contact Information: Luke C. Hester
[email protected]
202-564-7818

Mac's Radiator and Repair Inc., of Portland, Ore., a company which owns a chain of 16 radiator repair shops in Washington, Oregon and Idaho pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $90,000 fine on April 15 for violating the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Costs of cleanup and restitution paid to the City of Garden City, Idaho, will be deducted from the fine. Kevin H. Jonely, former manager of the Mac's Radiator facility in Garden City, Idaho, was also sentenced on the same date for violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). He will serve four months in prison and pay a $3,000 fine. In its guilty plea, Mac's Radiator admitted to violating CERCLA by failing to report the release of a hazardous substance. Jonely previously pleaded guilty to violating the CWA and admitted that he failed to hire a licensed hazardous waste disposal firm to remove and dispose of lead-containing hazardous waste in the Mac's Garden City facility's oil/water separator. Instead, Jonely illegally directed employees to help him use a steam cleaner and a hose to break up the waste and flush it down the facility's sewer clean-out. He had been previously notified by a Garden City official that he did not have a CWA discharge permit to discharge the waste into the city sewer system, which was not designed to treat hazardous waste.

The waste contained lead. Lead is a toxic metal which can be harmful to fish and wildlife and can cause neurological and learning disorders in people. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the Idaho State Police, the City of Boise and the City of Garden City. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Boise.