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PA FLAMMABLE WASTE DUMPING IN SEWER NETS THREE COUNT FELONY

Release Date: 06/14/96
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PA FLAMMABLE WASTE DUMPING IN SEWER NETS THREE COUNT FELONY

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1996

FLAMMABLE WASTE DUMPING IN SEWER NETS THREE COUNT FELONY INDICTMENT FOR NEW HAVEN CITY FOREMAN

William Williamson, foreman of New Haven, Connecticut's Signs and Markings Division, was named in an indictment unsealed on June 5, for two felony counts of violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and one felony count of violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Williamson is charged with allegedly ordering city employees to dump highly flammable toluene, petroleum solvents and paint wastes into a sewer system and onto a sand pile at a city facility. The toluene and petroleum solvents were used to clean painting equipment. Eight hundred gallons of the highly flammable wastes allegedly dumped on Williamson's orders were pumped from the city's sewage system by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection on Oct. 11, 1995. Williamson faces a maximum prison sentence of three years on each of the two CWA violations and up to five years on the RCRA violation. The case was investigated by the EPA Criminal Investigation Division and the U. S. Coast Guard, with the assistance of state and local authorities.

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