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Connecticut Plating Company and General Manager Plead in Clean Water Act Case

Release Date: 07/07/2004
Contact Information:


Christopher Lagan, 202-564-7338 / lagan.christopher@epa.gov

(07/07/04) Aluminum Finishing Company, Inc., of Bridgeport Conn., and Duane Bass, Aluminum Finishing’s General Manager, both pled guilty on June 21 in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in New Haven to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). Aluminum Finishing performs electroplating, painting, anodizing and chromating a variety of metal products for industry. The company had a permit to discharge treated process wastewater into the Bridgeport sewer system, which in
turn discharges into Long Island Sound. Aluminum Finishing pled guilty to repeated violations of its discharge permit from October 27, 2000 to January 5, 2001. Specifically, the government stated that the company discharged wastewater which exceeded its CWA discharge permit levels for pH, chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc. The government further alleged that Aluminum Finishing was in the practice of discharging approximately 8,000 gallons of unpretreated wastewater on Friday evenings. Defendant Bass was charged with an illegal discharge on January 5, 2001. The discharge of wastewater containing contaminants above permitted levels has the potential to interfere with municipal sewage treatment processes. The case was investigated by the Boston Area Office EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with assistance from EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the City of Bridgeport’s treatment works. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Haven.