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Former Textile Manufacturer Charged with Storing Hazardous Waste Without a Permit after Closing Textile Company

Release Date: 11/27/2002
Contact Information: Donna Heron, (215) 814-5113

Donna Heron, (215) 814-5113

PHILADELPHIA – The owner of a closed textile company in West Hazleton, Pa., has been charged in federal court with storing hazardous waste without a permit at the now-defunct Pennsylvania Textile Corp.

On Nov. 26, 2002, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania filed a one-count Information against Myron H. Feldman, 71, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. A plea agreement between Feldman and the U.S. Attorney’s office was also filed at the same time.

Feldman was a part owner in several companies involved in textile manufacturing and dying, including Pennsylvania Textile Corp. of West Hazelton, Pa. Feldman is charged with storing hazardous waste at the Penn-Tex facility without a permit in two ways. First, he caused a trailer containing chemicals used in water-proofing fabric to be transported from another of his plants in East Stroudsburg, Pa., to Penn-Tex where they sat unused and deteriorating for years. Laboratory analysis revealed that 67 or the 85 drums in the trailer contained ignitable hazardous waste.

When Penn-Tex ceased operating in May, 1998, the company also abandoned almost 400 drums and other containers of unusable chemicals, a number of which contained hazardous waste. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) conducted a cleanup at the facility in 1995 which cost approximately $ 230,000.

This case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and National Enforcement Investigation Center, which provided sampling and analytical assistance, and PADEP’s Bureau of Investigations assisted CID. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and EPA attorney Martin Harrell is serving as a special assistant U.S. attorney.

A guilty plea hearing will occur after Thanksgiving.