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PA VIRGINIA MAN SENTENCED FOR CLEAN WATER VIOLATIONS
Release Date: 10/02/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1998
VIRGINIA MAN SENTENCED FOR CLEAN WATER VIOLATIONS
L. Robert Kirk of Midlothian, Va. was sentenced on Sept. 25, by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond to serve 18 months in prison for violating the Clean Water Act. Kirk was general manager of Avion Environmental Group in Richmond. Avion stored and treated wastewater contaminated with oil and other petroleum products. Under the terms of its wastewater discharge permit, Avion pretreated wastewater that was discharged to reduce its concentration of pollutants. From April 1996 through December 1996, Kirk and Avion employees periodically by-pass the facility’s pretreatment filter system and discharged untreated wastewater directly into Richmond’s sewer system, in violation of the permit. Throughout that period, Kirk falsely represented to Richmond wastewater treatment officials that Avion was not discharging untreated wastewater into the sewer system. Discharging wastewater with high levels of chemical pollutants can cause damage to public wastewater treatment facilities. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the FBI and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
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