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1. STOP SALE ORDER ISSUED TO MISSOURI DISINFECTANT COMPANY, 2. FLORIDA MAN, VIRGINIA REAL ESTATE FIRM PLEAD GUILTY, 3. SHIP’S CHIEF ENGINEER PLEADS GUILTY TO OIL POLLUTION IN ALASKA WATERS, 4. TWO MEN SENTENCED IN LAS VEGAS FOR ILLEGAL WASTE DISCHARGE
Release Date: 06/14/2002
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Press Advisory
Following are some Agency developments which may interest you. If you need
more information on any of these subjects, call the appropriate contact.
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2002
ENFORCEMENT WRAP-UP
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818/hester.luke@epa.gov
STOP SALE ORDER ISSUED TO MISSOURI DISINFECTANT COMPANY
On June 7, EPA ordered Wexford Labs, of Kirkwood, Mo., to immediately stop selling and distributing three ineffective antimicrobial disinfectant products. The products are: Wex-Cide Concentrated Germicidal Detergent (EPA Reg. No. 34810-8); Phenex-Cel Concentrated Germicidal Detergent (EPA Reg. No. 34810-16) and Ready-To-Use Wex-Cide Germicidal Detergent (EPA Reg. No. 34810-21). In addition, EPA is requesting that Wexford voluntarily recall all quantities of these products on sale since July 2001 from its distributors and their customers. Selling or distributing ineffective pesticides is prohibited under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, which authorizes EPA to issue orders stopping the sale of ineffective products. EPA has an efficacy testing program for tuberculocides and hospital disinfectant products to ensure that products marketed in commerce to protect public health work as claimed. Disinfectant products play an important role in infection control. Health care providers, consumers and others rely on EPA’s registration of these products as evidence that they work as claimed on the label. Because Wexford’s products are ineffective tuberculocidal disinfectants, they may pose a potential public health threat, if used.FLORIDA MAN, VIRGINIA REAL ESTATE FIRM PLEAD GUILTY
David Stephens Klein of Heathrow, Fla., and the Davold Real Estate Partnership of Staunton, Va., pleaded guilty on May 28 to violating the Clean Air Act in Staunton. Klein pleaded guilty to illegally disposing of asbestos-containing material from the Masonic Building and Davold pleaded guilty to illegally removing asbestos at the Towne Center. Klein, a medical doctor who previously ran clinics in the Shenandoah Valley, operated buildings in Staunton owned by the Davold Real Estate Partnership, a property management company. Workers untrained in the proper removal of asbestos were used to remove asbestos from pipes and boilers and were not provided with property safety equipment. The asbestos was dumped at the Augusta County landfill and various other sites in and around Staunton. Failure to use appropriate safety equipment and properly remove and dispose of asbestos can lead to the inhalation of asbestos fibers which is a cause of lung cancer, a lung disease known as “asbestosis”, and mesothelioma which is a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. When sentenced, Klein faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine and Davold a fine of up to $500,000. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Staunton Police Department with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center and EPA Region III. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Charlottesville and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.
SHIP’S CHIEF ENGINEER PLEADS GUILTY TO OIL POLLUTION IN ALASKA WATERS
Je Yong Lee, Chief Engineer of the motor vessel Soho (M/V Soho) pleaded guilty on May 28 to keeping and presenting a false oil record book, obstructing a federal investigation and telling crew members to lie to a federal grand jury in Anchorage, Alaska. The M/V Soho is a Panamanian flagged freighter that is owned by a Korean company named Oswego Limited. It carries seafood to Asia. Lee was the vessel’s chief engineer in charge of engine room operations. During a Coast Guard inspection in February, inspectors found hose which they suspected was used to bypass the ship’s oil water separator, a pollution control device that limits the amount of oil a ship discharges into the ocean. Lee admitted in his plea that he knowingly recorded false information in the ship’s oil record book, thus failing to indicate that the bypass hose was used to directly discharge oil-contaminated bilge water and oily sludge into the ocean during the ship’s passage from Japan to Alaska. In addition, Lee admitted that he instructed engine room crew members to lie to a federal grand jury about the use of the bypass hose. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Lee faces a maximum sentence of up to 33-months in prison. The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
TWO MEN SENTENCED IN LAS VEGAS FOR ILLEGAL WASTE DISCHARGE
Gene Moran and John Gold, operators of Silver State Plating in Las Vegas, Nev., were sentenced on May 28 for various federal violations arising from the illegal discharge of electroplating wastes containing excessive levels of zinc, chromium, copper, lead and nickel into sewers operated by the Clark County Sanitation District. Moran, who was previously convicted of illegally discharging plating wastes into Las Vegas sewers, was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Gold, who pleaded guilty to illegally discharging wastes into sewers, intentionally discharging similar wastes, conspiring to illegally dispose of plating wastes and making false statements to conceal illegal discharges, was also sentenced to 12 months in prison. Discharging electroplating wastes into sewers can cause sewage treatment equipment to fail and can lead to untreated sewage being discharged to surface waters, creating a risk to humans who use the waters for recreation and to aquatic and animal life. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center, the Clark County Sanitation District and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Las Vegas and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
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