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TENNESSEE FIRM AND OFFICERS PLEAD GUILTY TO ILLEGAL WASTE DISPOSAL
Release Date: 02/22/2001
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2001
TENNESSEE FIRM AND OFFICERS PLEAD
GUILTY TO ILLEGAL WASTE DISPOSAL
Simpson Construction Company of Cleveland, Tenn.; Claude S. Simpson, Simpson Construction’s President; and Ralph E. Hicks, foreman at Simpson Construction; all pleaded guilty on Jan. 30 to violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Simpson Construction specializes in the construction of roads and bridges. The defendants admitted that they illegally burned hazardous solvent and paint wastes in a pit at the company’s facility in May 1998. When sentenced, Claude Simpson faces a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment and Ralph Hicks a maximum sentence of one year. Simpson Construction and Claude Simpson have also agreed to pay a total of $867,320.83 in fines and funding of remediation and supplemental environmental projects. The company also will have to develop and implement an environmental compliance plan. The case was investigated by members of the Eastern Tennessee Environmental Crimes Task Force, including EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the Tennessee Valley Authority Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Bradley County Sheriff’s Department, the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chattanooga.
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