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IOWA COMPANY, CEO PLEAD GUILTY TO VIOLATING CLEAN WATER ACT
Release Date: 11/29/2001
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2001
IOWA COMPANY, CEO PLEAD GUILTY TO VIOLATING CLEAN WATER ACT
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818/hester.luke@epa.gov
Rockingham-Lunex Co., Pleasant Valley, Iowa, and its President/CEO, William T. Schmidt, pleaded guilty on Oct. 25 to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). They were charged in relation to the discharge of Solvol 107, a rust inhibitor, into a storm drain that empties into marsh waters which flow to the Mississippi River. The company operates a metal fabrication plant near the Mississippi River. Marshes and other wetlands are important biological resources, and the discharge of industrial chemicals into them can harm fish and wildlife. A plea agreement calls for Schmidt to serve eight months home confinement and pay a $5,000 fine and for Rockingham-Lunex to pay a $10,000 fine. The company also will be on probation for three years, during which time it must develop and implement an environmental compliance plan. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, and the Bettendorf Fire Department with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Des Moines.
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