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1. PROGRESS REPORT RELEASED ON THE CLEAN DIESEL PROGRAM, 2. CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER POSITION ESTABLISHED IN AGENCY, 3. TENNESSEE PHYSICIAN SENTENCED FOR CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATION, 4. OWNER OF FORMER OREGON SHIP REPAIR COMPANY GIVEN JAIL TERM, 5. SHIPS’ CAPTAIN, CHIEF ENGINEERS PLEAD GUILTY TO ALASKA VIOLATIONS, 6. ALASKA MAN PLEADS TO CONCEALING ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME

Release Date: 06/21/2002
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Press Advisory

Following are some Agency developments which may interest you. If you need more information on any of these subjects, call the appropriate contact.

EPA is releasing a comprehensive technology review of the progress that industry is making toward meeting the requirements of the 2007 Highway Heavy Duty Clean Diesel regulations. These regulations will help achieve public health benefits through the introduction of new emission standards that will result in significant reductions in particulate matter or soot and oxides of nitrogen from diesel trucks and buses. The “Highway Diesel Progress Review” report provides the Agency’s review of the progress of diesel engines manufacturers to reduce emissions and the petroleum refining industry in developing and demonstrating technologies to lower the sulfur level in diesel fuel. The Agency found that both industries are making significant progress needed to comply with the program’s requirements and therefore confirming that the program will be successfully implemented. The report will be discussed at the next meeting of the Clean Diesel Independent Review Panel, June 27 and 28, at the Radisson Hotel Old Town in Alexandria, Va. A copy of the report and additional information about the panel meeting are available at: https://www.epa.gov/air/caaac/clean_diesel.html .

Debra D. Stouffer has been selected for EPA’s newly established leadership position, Chief Technology Officer. She will provide advice on critical information technology (IT) issues to the Assistant Administrator for Environmental Information and Chief Information Officer (CIO) www.epa.gov/OEI . Stouffer was Deputy CIO for IT reform, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, from May 1999 to January 2002 and served at the Office of Management and Budget, Office of the President, from January to April 2002, where she developed the federal government’s first business and reference model and business architecture. In IT operations, “architecture” describes all of the supporting IT components needed to make a business operation function. She provided component-based architecture frameworks to guide solution development for Presidential E-government initiatives. As EPA’s CTO, Stouffer will serve as executive-level advisor for agency-wide IT projects, IT management planning processes and project management improvement efforts and co-chair the effort to address the technical sufficiency and soundness of agency-wide IT investments. An Agency priority is to align its business and data architecture with the President's management agenda for E-government.



Clary P. Foote, a Harriman, Tenn., physician who owned a power plant there, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on June 7 for violating the Clean Water Act. Foote will spend 12 months in home confinement, perform 300 hours of community service, pay a $10,000 fine, publish an apology in the Knoxville and Roan County, Tenn., newspapers and pay $74,956.64 to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Valley Authority Police and Southern Environment Enforcement Training Inc., a company that will provide environmental training within the community. The offense occurred in February 1999 shortly after the defendant purchased the power plant at the former Harriman Power and Paper Mill. The site had a storage tank that contained approximately 500,000 gallons of a mixture of pulp waste known as “black liquor” and water. The defendant and an employee went to the tank during a rainstorm on Feb. 14, 1999, and opened a valve which allowed the black liquor contents of the tank to flow into a pond that emptied into the Emory River. The contents had a high chemical oxygen demand level which had a negative impact on vegetation and aquatic life in the river. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and members of the East Tennessee Environmental Crimes Task Force. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Greenville, Tenn.

Guy O. Hoy, III, the owner of Hoy’s Marine, a Newport, Ore., ship repair facility that ceased doing business in May 2000, was sentenced on June 4 to four months in prison for violating the Clean Water Act. Hoy also was ordered to subsequently serve four months of home detention, perform 40 hours of environmental community service and pay $70,000 restitution and $27,000 in state fines. Hoy’s company renovated and painted ships by raising them out of the Yaquina River and pressure washing and sand blasting the hulls. Twice previously fined and repeatedly warned since 1996 by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to cease the practice, Hoy continued to allow sandblast grit and antifoulant marine paint to be discharged into the Yaquina River. Sandblasting residue and antifoulant marine paint can contain heavy metals, which can harm fish and aquatic life. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the Oregon State Police and the Oregon DEQ. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Eugene, Ore.

Three defendants pleaded guilty to violations resulting from illegal activities that stemmed from the dumping of oil and sludge into ocean waters in and around Alaska. Doo Hyun Kim, captain of the Motor Vessel Khana, pleaded guilty on June 12 to obstruction of justice; In Ho Kim, chief engineer of the Khana, pleaded guilty on May 31 to making false records and witness tampering; and Je Yong Lee, chief engineer on the Motor Vessel Soho, pleaded guilty on May 28 to making false records, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. The Khana and Soho were registered in Panama and were used for the shipment of frozen seafood to Asia. In February, the U.S. Coast Guard detained the vessels in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to inspect them for possible violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. During Coast Guard on-board inspections, inspectors found oil laden bypass hoses believed to be used to circumvent the ships’ oil water separators. Oil water separators are required ship pollution control devices that prevent oil discharges, which can harm fish and other aquatic life. The defendants interfered with the investigation by telling crew members to lie to investigators about the bypass hoses and by maintaining false oil record books. The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Gary Hitchings, an officer and director of Technic Services Inc., an Alaska asbestos abatement contracting company, pleaded guilty on May 31 to misprison (illegal concealment) of a felony by failing to report a violation of the Clean Water Act. The violation involved the removal of asbestos from the Alaska Pulp Corp. in Sitka, Alaska. Hitchings was responsible for assuring that all asbestos containing material at the facility was properly removed in accordance with environmental rules and regulations. During the removal, the defendant learned that slushy waste containing asbestos abatement waste was allowed to enter a drain system at the facility and flow directly into Silver Bay in violation of the Clean Water Act. However, Hitchings concealed the violation. Discharging contaminated slurry into surface waters can be harmful to fish and other aquatic life. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with the assistance of the EPA Office of Air Quality, EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center and the Alaska Department of Labor. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage.

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