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The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Issued on November 6th a press release announcing the sentencing of Electro- Plating Services Inc (“EPS”) and its owner Gary Sayers for alleged violations of the Resources Conservation Recovery Act (“RCRA”).
The EPS facility is stated to use a plating process and is located in Madison Heights, Michigan.
The press release states that the facility used chemicals such as cyanide, chromium, nickel, chloride, and others in its plating process. It further states:
. . . After these chemicals no longer served their intended purposed, they became hazardous wastes, which required handling in compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Rather than having EPS’s hazardous wastes legally transported to a licensed hazardous waste facility, Sayers stored the hazardous waste in numerous drums and other containers, including a pit dug into the ground in the lower level of the EPS building in Madison Heights. For years, Sayers stonewalled state efforts to legally deal with the hazardous wastes.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency is stated to have spent $1,449,963.94 clean up and dispose of the hazardous wastes.
The EPS owner was sentenced to one year in prison. Further, EPS the company has been ordered to pay $1,449,963.94 as restitution.
The press release can be downloaded here.