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TEXAS COMPANY, FORMER PRESIDENT SENTENCED FOR WASTE VIOLATION

Release Date: 02/15/2002
Contact Information:


FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2002
TEXAS COMPANY, FORMER PRESIDENT SENTENCED FOR WASTE VIOLATION

Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818 / hester.luke@epa.gov


Courtney & Co. Inc., of Texas City, Texas, and its former president, Donald Ray Robertson of Hitchcock, Texas, pleaded guilty and were sentenced for illegally storing hazardous waste in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Robertson will serve six months home confinement and one year probation. Courtney & Co. was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. In 1997 and 1998, Robertson directed employees to store at the company facility approximately 1000 gallons (about 6500 pounds) of ignitable hazardous wastes including waste paint, toluene, xylene, methyl-ethyl ketone and waste paint solvents without a permit. Such action can create a fire hazard. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission and the Pollution Control Division of the Galveston County Health District. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston.

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