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PA JOINT FEDERAL/STATE CASE LEADS TO GUILTY PLEAS

Release Date: 06/13/97
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1997
JOINT FEDERAL/STATE CASE LEADS TO GUILTY PLEAS

LHT Inc., a LaGrande, Ore. trucking company, pleaded guilty on June 6, in U.S. Court for the District of Idaho in Boise, to the felony offense of illegally transporting hazardous waste in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Also on June 6, the President of LHT Inc., Larry Hatch, who was a registered hazardous materials hauler, pleaded guilty to a state of Idaho charge of illegally transporting hazardous waste and was immediately sentenced by the county court to spend 30 days in jail and to serve 30 days laboring on a work crew. Hatch was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. Sentencing of LHT on the federal charge will occur on August 25. A joint federal-state investigation found that Hatch and LHT Inc., had been hired to illegally transport three tractor-trailer loads of ignitable paint waste and solvent from LaGrande, Ore., to Payette, Idaho between August 1995 and January 1996. In August 1996, a Superfund clean-up action was completed at the Payette, Idaho location at a cost of approximately $120,000. This investigation involved a cooperative effort between EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and environmental enforcement authorities from the States of Idaho and Oregon.

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