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NEW HAMPSHIRE CHEMICAL COMPANY SENTENCED FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE CRIME THAT KILLED OHIO MAN

Release Date: 07/13/2000
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2000
NEW HAMPSHIRE CHEMICAL COMPANY SENTENCED
FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE CRIME THAT KILLED OHIO MAN


Lancaster Synthesis Inc. (Lancaster), a company headquartered in New Hampshire, was sentenced on July 3, for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. In a previous plea agreement, the defendant admitted to shipping a drum containing an explosive sodium azide compound without the required manifest to Clean Harbors Inc., a hazardous waste storage, transport and disposal company in Cincinnati. In addition to failing to label the drum, as required by law, Lancaster also admitted to falsifying the drum’s bill of lading to indicate that the drum did not contain regulated hazardous waste. On Oct. 7, 1995, the drum exploded, killing Joel Murray, a supervisor at Clean Harbors. Lancaster was ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution to the Murray family, serve five years probation, develop an environmental compliance program ensure that there is an environmental health and safety officer for each of its facilities in the United States. The case was investigated by EPA, the FBI, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Cincinnati Fire Division. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cincinnati.

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