Ekotek, a Salt Lake refinery, and its president, Steven M. Self, have been charged in Utah's first-ever felony indictment alleging environmental crimes.
The 12-count felony indictment - announced Thursday by U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, the nation's top law enforcement officer - charges a host of unsafe practices took place at the Ekotek refinery, 1628 N. Chicago.The crimes carry a potential maximum penalty of $24 million in fines plus 45 years in prison for Self, upon conviction. The indictment, issued Wednesday afternoon by a grand jury in Salt Lake City, charges Self and Ekotek with conspiracy, mail fraud and violations of environmental laws.
"This case presents perhaps the most serious type of environmental misconduct - a company in the waste management business which, according to the indictment, dumped these substances into the community and duped environmentally conscious businesses into believing that waste materials were being properly disposed of," Thornburgh said. He spoke at a press conference in the Federal Court House in downtown Salt Lake City.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter McGrath, the lead lawyer for the government in the case, said that in terms of potential penalties, this is one of the largest environmental indictments ever issued in the country.
In addition to the indictment, a three-count felony information was filed Wednesday against Ekotek's vice president, Steven F. Miller. U.S. Attorney Dee Benson said Miller pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to all three charges - conspiracy, storage and disposal of hazardous material without a permit, and violation of the Clean Water Act.
He is to be sentenced on July 31 and faces up to 13 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. Benson said that as part of a plea agreement, Miller is cooperating in the case against Ekotek and Self. The guilty plea was taken in the chambers of U.S. District Judge David Sam.
The indictment charges such serious crimes as burning tons of hazardous material without a permit, falsifying records and dumping greasy water into the Salt Lake sewer system.
"Prior to the investigation, plumes of black smoke and ash and bad odors were reported by nearby residents," says a Justice Department press release.
"A 17-year-old boy reported that his shoe began to bubble and disintegrate after he accidentally stepped in some liquid while running by the site."
The indictment alleges Self and Ekotek conspired to violate federal pollution laws. It claims these actions were taken to carry out the alleged conspiracy:
-On April 6, 1987, Self ordered employees of Ekotek to transport hazardous waste from Southern California Gas Co., Los Angeles, to an automobile service station in Barstow, Calif., and dispose of the waste by depositing it in diesel tanks below the station and abandoning it.
Elsewhere in the indictment, it says that Self owned a gas station in Barstow, Calif.
-In July 1986, Self arranged with the Navy to demilitarize two napalm bombs. More than a year later, Miller told state officials the bombs had been shipped off-site. But in November 1987, the bombs were discovered at Ekotek and were not demilitarized.
-Self and Miller stored 500 gallons of corrosive hazardous waste on the site on March 31, 1987, without a permit.
- Self and Miller stored 17 drums of waste ink and 12 drums of waste methyl ethyl ketone, which are ignitable hazardous wastes, in an unpermitted warehouse at Ekotek. Miller told employees to conceal this from state health inspectors, it says.
-On Sept. 15, 1987, and at other times in 1987, Self and Miller spread pollution into the air by burning 36,940 pounds of liquid including xylene, ketone and acetate without a state air permit.
-From December 1985 until Nov. 16, 1987, Self and Miller authorized the burning of used oil, hazardous waste and solvents in Ekotek burners as fuel, violating a state order.
-Self and Miller discharged excessively high levels of oil and grease and industrial wastewater "and ordered employees to watch for inspectors and to discharge wastewater in violation of the limits when the inspectors were not testing the discharge."
Environmental Protection Agency officials scheduled a public meeting Thursday to discuss their findings about Ekotek pollution. They have been sampling property off the site to see if chemicals seeping from the plant posed any danger.
"There really isn't anything there to be alarmed about, off-site," said Luke Chavez, an EPA official in Denver. In a telephone interview Thursday, he said the Justice Department press conference and the indictment were coincidental to the meeting.
Asked if a cleanup will be needed off-site, he said, "We're not even sure right now. The way it is, there's not even something to be alarmed about."
In that case, he said, there might not be a need for a cleanup of property away from the plant site.
At one time, officials estimated that as many as 2,500 to 3,000 companies and individuals who might have been involved with the site could be held responsible for cleanup costs.
As of December 1988, however, only 32 companies identified as potentially responsible parties had entered into a consent order with EPA, to finance an emergency removal of material at the site.