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MICHIGAN MAN CONVICTED FOR VIOLATING CLEAN WATER ACT
Release Date: 05/25/2001
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2001
MICHIGAN MAN CONVICTED FOR VIOLATING CLEAN WATER ACT
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818; Hester.Luke@epa.gov
On May 14, Michael J. Kuhn of Bay City, Mich., was convicted of violating the Clean Water Act by ordering employees at a waste treatment plant to pump sewage sludge into an emergency outfall ditch that flowed into the Saginaw River and for falsifying records. Kuhn was, at the time of the violation, Superintendent of the Bay City Wastewater Treatment Plant. In June 1997, Kuhn knowingly ordered an employee to falsify a data record related to the plant’s influent. Kuhn thereafter certified the accuracy of the false data in a monthly report submitted to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Pumping sewage sludge into surface waters can present an infection risk to people who come into contact with the water, make the water unsuitable for drinking and recreational purposes and can harm fish and wildlife. When sentenced, Kuhn faces a maximum sentence of up to 12 years in prison and/or fines of up to $1 million. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit.
R-078 ###
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