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PA FATHER AND SON PLEAD GUILTY
Release Date: 04/18/97
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1997
FATHER AND SON PLEAD GUILTY
Jasper Petitte of Lutz, Fla., and his son Christopher Petitte of Morgantown, W.Va., pleaded guilty on April 7, in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg, W.Va., to federal Clean Water Act violations which arose from the discharge of acid mine drainage from a water treatment pond at the Sandridge Coal Co., near Morgantown on March 23, 1992. Jasper Petitte admitted to discharging acidic mine drainage water with a pH level below 6.0, which was the lowest pH value allowed in Sandridge's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit. The elder Petitte also pleaded guilty to violating his NPDES Permit by failing to report the discharge which occurred at the Sandridge treatment pond during March 1992. Christopher Petitte pleaded guilty to signing his father's name to a discharge monitoring report which failed to report the March 1992 discharge of the acid mine drainage at the Sandridge treatment pond. Jasper Petite faces a total maximum sentence of four years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $350,000 for his conviction on both counts. Christopher Petite faces a maximum of one year imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $100,000. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI.
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