Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2002
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
ENRD
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

SOUTH CAROLINA CHEMICAL FACILITY, INDIVIDUALS CHARGED UNDER CLEAN WATER ACT

Illegal Discharges Resulted In A Fish Kill And The Shut Down Of A Waste Water Treatment Plant


WASHINGTON, D.C.– United States Attorney Strom Thurmond, Jr. and the Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury has returned an Indictment today, charging Tin Products, Inc., James H. Goldman, Jr. Melanie T. Purvis and George Metts with conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act. Tin Products and Goldman were also charged with substantive violations of the Clean Water Act.

The charges arise out of alleged illegal discharges of wastewater from the Tin Products facility in Lexington, S.C. between March 1999 and February 2000. The Indictment alleges various violations of the pretreatment program established by the Lexington County Two Notch Road Publicly Owned Treatment Works ("POTW"), as required by the Clean Water Act. The illegal discharges ultimately resulted in a fish kill in Red Bank Creek, and caused an interference at the POTW's ability to treat wastewater.

According to the Indictment, Tin Products manufactures "organotins," which are chemicals used in the plumbing and plastic industries, and which can be highly toxic to aquatic life. The Indictment alleges that:

•Goldman, the former vice-president for Tin Products, Purvis, the former environmental supervisor, and George Metts, a former wastewater operator, conspired from March 1999 through February 2000 to discharge organotin wastewater from the Tin Products facility to the POTW;

•Goldman and Purvis were aware that the organotin wastewater was being discharged through the Tin Products wastewater pretreatment unit, which Goldman and Purvis allegedly knew was incapable of treating organotins;

•During this same time period Goldman ordered Tin Products employees to discharge wastewater into a pipe that led directly to the Lexington County Sewer and to the POTW; and

•In March 2000, after the fishkill, Goldman directed Purvis to submit a false document to Lexington County Sewer Commission, which stated that written procedures had been in place for preventing the discharging of organotins wastewater from the facility. Goldman knew the document had been back-dated to January 2000, and no such written procedure had ever been in place at Tin Products.

"Today's Indictment further demonstrates how the Justice Department is fulfilling its continued commitment to prosecute polluters who break the nation's environmental crime laws," said Tom Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division.

"This Indictment underscores the intent of the United States Attorney's Office to enforce the environmental laws applicable to companies and individual employees."said U.S. Attorney Strom Thurmond, Jr.

If convicted, each defendant faces imprisonment up to five years for each count in the Indictment, and a criminal fine of $250,000 for each count. The company faces criminal fines of up to $500,000 for each count in the Indictment.

The case was investigated by South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Office of Criminal Investigation and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Criminal Investigation Division.

"Our criminal investigators have worked tirelessly along with the U.S. Attorney's office and the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department on this case, and we are pleased with the Indictment of these individuals for their alleged involvement in one of the worst pollution releases in South Carolina history," said R. Lewis Shaw, DHEC s Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Quality Control.

The Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina noted that defendants named in an Indictment are presumed innocent and that the Indictment in this case is only an accusation.

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