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1/30/2025
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@watertoday.ca
January 30, 2025 833 am PST
CWA CrimeBox
Environmental Crimes Historic Conviction: Fiscal Year 2014; Case ID# CR_2580(California)
Failure to report acid spill draws results in criminal conviction, fines and probation
One of 72 Clean Water Act Criminal Prosecutions in the State of California (from 1989-2023)
The co-defendants in this case are a family-owned industrial tank cleaning business based in San Diego and a Production Manager for the company.
When a passer-by noticed an unknown liquid pooled on the street near an elementary school, San Diego Fire Department was called. The Hazardous Incident Response Team (HIRT) and the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health Service, Hazardous Materials Management Division (DEH) responded, closing the impacted streets and alley. Samples of liquid and soil from the spill site revealed a dangerously corrosive material, the pH less than 1. (Measured pH values range 0 to 14, the lower end of the scale being acidic.)
Responders traced the spill from the school up an alley to the defendants' property. No evidence of a spill was found on the site. Executive management denied knowledge of a spill, further claiming no acidic material present at the facility. Upon inspection, the responder noted several large containers of descaling product with hydrochloric acid content indicated on the label.
EPA Criminal Investigation Division followed up the incident, finding a manager at the business had ordered an employee to clean some equipment two days earlier. When the employee discovered a damaged valve on the descaler product container, and the contents leaked out on the ground and under a wall, the spill was reported to the production manager. The manager then ordered employees to clean the spill on the property. Employees hosed down the affected area on the property and vacuumed the residual liquid, placing it in a tote labeled “oily water”. The defendant later admitted, no effort was made to clean material from the alley.
On the other side of the wall, acid etched the concrete all the way down the alley to where it pooled on the street. Some of the hazardous substance reached a storm drain, leading to an outfall in waters of the US. The spill was determined to be well above the reportable quantity, however, was not reported to the National Response Center or any other authorities as required under state and federal law, nor was the incident reported to the defendant's Health and Safety Manager on site.
The co-defendants plead guilty to the CWA violations as charged, subsequently sentenced to fines and probation by U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff for the failure to report a hazardous material spill.
Federal Fines: $55,000; Restitution: $11,239.60; Special Assessment/Penalty: $400; Probation: 72 months
See the Justice Dept original press release, here.
CWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
See last week's CrimeBox here, "Sewage-dumping crime family conviction: 6 months in prison plus restitution "
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