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PA FED. JURY CONVICTS OPERATOR OF CRIMINAL HAZ. WASTE DISPOS.

Release Date: 06/07/96
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PA FED. JURY CONVICTS OPERATOR OF CRIMINAL HAZ. WASTE DISPOS.

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1996

FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS OPERATOR OF WISCONSIN ENVIRONMENTAL BUSINESS OF CRIMINAL HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL

On May 31, a federal grand jury in Madison, Wis. convicted Leo G. Kelly on four criminal felony charges for violating the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Kelly unlawfully transported and disposed of seventeen 55-gallon drums containing hazardous waste. The government established that Kelly, who operated companies under the names of Environmental Waste and Material Systems Inc., Environmental Services, and Central Testing Services, was in the business of removing underground petroleum storage tanks, disposing of the waste materials from those tanks and conducting site remediation. In June 1990, Kelly directed two of his employees to transport six 55- gallon drums containing waste from a convenience store to a firm, Winter Auto Salvage, in Winter, Wis. Two of these drums contained hazardous waste. In 1992, an additional twenty-seven 55-gallon drums were taken to Winter Auto Salvage. Of these drums, 15 contained hazardous waste. Winter Auto Salvage did not have a permit to treat, store or dispose of hazardous waste. The drums contained toxic levels of benzene, lead, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene. Many of these drums were the subject of a lawsuit filed by the state of Wisconsin in 1987 concerning property owned by Kelly near Hayward, Wisc. In that case, a circuit court judge found that the 55-gallon drums on Kelly's property contained hazardous waste, but Kelly removed the drums before the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources could conduct a cleanup. Sentencing is set for Aug. 13. Kelly faces a maximum penalty on each of the four counts of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The jury verdict was the result of a joint investigation conducted by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources.

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