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Ex-Delaware Official Pleads to Clean Water Act Violation

Release Date: 02/03/2005
Contact Information:



Contact: Stacie Findon 202-564-7338 / findon.stacie@epa.gov

(02/03/05) William Daisey of Milton, Del., pleaded guilty on Jan. 24 in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in
Wilmington to violating the Clean Water Act by directing that water contaminated with hydrocarbons be
discharged into a wetland area that borders the Great Marsh which, in turn, borders the Broadkill River.
Daisey was the chief of operations for the Dredging Program of the Delaware Division of Soil and Water
Conservation which is part of the Delaware Division of Natural Resources and Environmental Controls
(DNREC). The Dredging Program was located at the site of a closed clam processing plant formerly
operated by the Doxsee Food Company. Doxsee sold the site to the DNREC which used it as a base of
operations for their dredge vessels, beach restoration equipment and crews. The site contained several
tanks of used oil contaminated with water, and Daisey separated a significant quantity of the oil from the
water to recover the oil to use as a heating fuel. Water left over from the process was collected in 600
gallon tanks which were then emptied into the wetland between January 2000 and April 2001. The
Dredging Program did not have a permit for wetland disposal of this water which was still contaminated
with residual oil. Disposing of oily wastes in wetlands can harm fish and wildlife. When sentenced, the
defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to
$250,000. The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division.
It is being prosecuted by the U.S. attorney's office in Wilmington and the Environmental Crimes Section of
the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.