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PA IDAHO CEO AND COMPANY PLEAD GUILTY IN HAZARDOUS WASTE CASE
Release Date: 01/09/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 1998
IDAHO CEO AND COMPANY PLEAD GUILTY IN HAZARDOUS WASTE CASE
On Dec. 18, George Elwood Betts, the owner and president of Lam Pine Inc., a defunct industrial coating operation located in Payette, Idaho, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho in Boise, on behalf of himself and his company to illegally transporting hazardous waste in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Betts and Lam Pine Inc., generated approximately 236 55-gallon drums of paint and solvent waste at Lam Pine’s old facility in LaGrande, Ore., from early 1994 to approximately August 1995. Betts hired two co-defendants, Larry Hatch and LHT Inc., to transport the waste from LaGrande, Ore., to Lam Pine’s Payette facility, which is not permitted to receive or store hazardous waste. In August 1996, a Superfund removal action was completed at the Payette location, costing the government approximately $160,000 to dispose of the drums of hazardous waste. This investigation involved EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and environmental enforcement authorities from the states of Idaho and Oregon.
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