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INDIANA MAN SENTENCED FOR DUMPING GASOLINE INTO SEWER
Release Date: 09/27/2001
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2001
INDIANA MAN SENTENCED FOR DUMPING GASOLINE INTO SEWER
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818 / hester.luke@epa.gov
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818 / hester.luke@epa.gov
Daniel W. Axe of Dugger, Ind., was sentenced on Sept.14 to five months imprisonment followed by five months home confinement, and was ordered to pay $38,000 in restitution and a $5,000 fine for violating the Clean Water Act. He pumped waste liquid containing gasoline into a city sewer from his service station. When he purchased the station it had been closed for five years and the underground gasoline storage tanks had not been emptied. Instead of conducting a proper tank removal, Axe emptied at least one of the tanks by pumping waste liquid contaminated with gasoline from the tank into a sewer drain. This illegal disposal created a fire and explosion hazard in the sewer system, requiring an immediate flushing of the city treatment plant. Damage repairs cost $38,000. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis with the assistance of the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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