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FLORIDA COMPANY FINED FOR VIOLATING THE CLEAN WATER ACT
Release Date: 11/29/2001
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2001
FLORIDA COMPANY FINED FOR VIOLATING THE CLEAN WATER ACT
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818/hester.luke@epa.gov
Grease Depot Inc. of Largo, Fla., was sentenced on Nov. 26 for violating the Clean Water Act by failing to report sampling results to the City of Largo in violation of a pretreatment permit. Grease Depot was ordered to make three payments, a $50,000 fine, $50,000 in restitution to the City of Largo and $4,040.43 in restitution for investigative costs to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The company also was put on two years probation. In 2000, the defendant hired a private firm to test its wastewater for Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and then submitted the results to the City of Largo. However, Grease Depot only submitted those results that showed its wastewater was within the BOD limits allowed in its pretreatment permit. The defendant knowingly omitted the reports that stated it was out of compliance. Discharging wastewater with higher than permitted levels of BOD can raise the cost of sewage treatment at public treatment facilities and may be harmful to fish and aquatic life if wastewater with high BOD levels is released from sewage treatment plants into surface waters. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the City of Largo, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa, Fla.
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