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PA PLATING WASTE DUMPING IN CITY SEWERS

Release Date: 06/28/96
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PA PLATING WASTE DUMPING IN CITY SEWERS

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1996

DUMPING OF PLATING WASTES INTO CITY SEWERS LEADS TO GUILTY PLEAS FOR TWO WASHINGTON STATE RESIDENTS

On June 26, Charles Hanke, former corporate President of Aero Pacific Finishing Inc., and on June 25, Arthur Henry Schoeben, current owner and operator of a business being operated as Aero Pacific Finishing, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act by dumping plating rinse tank wastes containing metals and other hazardous substances into a toilet connected to a city sewer at Aero Pacific's Monroe, Wash., facility. Aero Pacific Finishing is an electroplating business which has a significant history of non-compliance with environmental law. Originally located in Everett, Wash., Aero Pacific was ordered to fill its drains with concrete by the City of Everett after the company repeatedly violated the metals and sludge limits contained in a permit that it had obtained to discharge waste water into the city sewers. Hanke then moved Aero Pacific to Monroe, where he and Schoeben discharged plating wastes into the city sewers by dumping them into a toilet without notifying the city of the discharges or applying for a discharge permit. Hanke and Schoeben admitted to illegally storing and discharging plating wastes in their plea agreements. Hanke, who pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act, may be sentenced to a maximum of three years of imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $250,000. Schoeben, who pleaded to a misdemeanor violation of the Act, may be sentenced to a maximum of one year of imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $100,000. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division.