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The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania issued a December 1st news release stating that a copper-processing company had been charged with three felony counts alleging violations of the Clean Water Act.
The company being charged is stated to be Libertas Copper, LLC d/b/a Hussey Copper (“Hussey”) which is headquartered in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office states that Hussey was charged by criminal Information with one count each of:
- submitting a false discharge monitoring report,
- discharging a quantity of oil that may be harmful to the environment, and
- failing to make immediate, required notification of such discharge of oil.
Hussey is stated to operate a manufacturing facility on the Ohio River that produces flat-rolled copper products for the electrical distribution, industrial, and residential construction markets. Wastewater is stated to be generated as a result of its copper processing and discharged through a wastewater treatment plant (“Plant”). The Plant is stated to discharge wastewater through both internal and external outfalls into the Ohio River pursuant to a Clean Water Act National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit.
Hussey is alleged to have knowingly submitted falsified Discharge Monitoring Reports (“DMRs”) to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Such DMRs are stated to have indicated that various discharges from its outfalls were within applicable NPDES permit limits. This is stated to have been false because Hussey’s own internal sampling is stated to have generated data showing that such discharges had exceeded the relevant NPDES permit limits.
The U.S. Attorney’s news release also alleges that Hussey:
. . . engaged in a years-long pattern of discharging oil in a quantity sufficient to generate oil sheens on the Ohio River, in violation of the Clean Water Act.
Observed oil is stated to have been documented in internal logs regarding sheens at two of the company’s outfalls. Such observations are stated to have not been reported to either the United States Environmental Protection Agency or Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
A copy of the news release can be downloaded here.
