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Connecticut Man Sentenced for Clean Water Act Violation

Release Date: 09/23/2004
Contact Information:


Contact: John Millett 202-564-7842 / [email protected]
(09/23/04) Daniel R. Callahan of Broad Brook, Conn., was sentenced on Sept. 9 to serve three years probation, the first six months of which will be spent in home confinement. He was also ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and perform 150 hours of community service when he appeared before the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in Hartford. The defendant violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by falsifying reports submitted to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Callahan was formerly the Director of Environmental Health and Safety for the Stafford Division of Tyco Printed Circuit Group (TCPG). TCPG is a subsidiary of Tyco International. One of Callahan's primary responsibilities was to oversee the operation of Tyco's waste treatment facility at its factory in Manchester, Conn. In February 2001, Callahan assisted in the fabrication of reports submitted to DEP concerning the Manchester facility. The reports failed to include the fact that a waste treatment "batch tank" had been discharged into the Manchester public sewer system. Tyco's DEP permit required that discharges from the tank be reported. Instead, Callahan reported that the tank had not been discharged. As a result, the wastewater discharged from the factory exceeded the levels of copper allowed in the factory's discharge permit. Copper is a toxic metal which can, if passed through sewage treatment plants, harm fish, aquatic life, wildlife and humans who come into contact with copper-contaminated surface waters downstream from sewage treatment facilities. Two other defendants in this case, Anthony Dadalt and Robert Smith, were sentenced to probation for violating the CWA. TCPG was ordered to pay a $6 million fine and spend an additional $4 million on environmentally beneficial programs as a result of its CWA conviction in this case. The case was investigated by the New Haven Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the Connecticut DEP with the assistance of EPA's National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Bridgeport, Conn.