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UTAH PLANT MANAGER RECEIVES JAIL TERM FOR CWA VIOLATION

Release Date: 03/26/99
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1999
UTAH PLANT MANAGER RECEIVES JAIL TERM FOR CWA VIOLATION

Charles McNamee, the facilities manager at Syro Incorporated’s steel mill in Centerville, Utah, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and was sentenced on March 12 in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to three months imprisonment and a $2,500 fine. In November and December 1993, McNamee ordered Syro employees to discharge waste water from production tanks into a floor drain that led to the South Davis Sewer Improvement District sewer treatment works. The wastes contained acids and high concentrations of zinc, a toxic pollutant. Both of these substances can interfere with the proper treatment of sewage and are harmful to fish and other aquatic life. Because of these illegal discharges, the South Davis treatment works incurred additional expenses to dispose of zinc contaminated bio solids. The company previously pleaded guilty to two violations of the CWA and was ordered to pay a fine of $750,000. This case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Utah Attorney General's Office Environmental Crimes Unit and was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.


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