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MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN CLEAN AIR VIOLATIONS
Release Date: 08/17/2000
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2000
MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN CLEAN AIR VIOLATIONS
Darrell E. Bussell, of Lahaina, Hawaii, pleaded guilty on Aug. 3 in U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska in Anchorage to charges that he violated the Clean Air Act. The defendant illegally removed asbestos-containing pipe from a sewer line during a replacement project in a mobile home park in Valdez, Alaska, in the spring of 1997. During the project, Bussell ripped approximately 800 feet of asbestos-containing pipe out of the ground and ran over it with his backhoe. The pipe was then placed in piles near mobile homes until being crushed and placed in boxes for transport to Anchorage. In October 1998, the pipe was discovered in a vacant lot in Anchorage where it had been abandoned. Bussell’s illegal activities included failing to notify the EPA of an asbestos renovation during the pipe removal, failing to have a certified contractor perform the work, failing to properly wet and bag the asbestos, failing to properly label containers used to transport the asbestos and failing to dispose of the asbestos at a landfill approved for that purpose. The improper removal of asbestos can lead to the inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers, which can cause lung cancer, a lung disease known as“asbestosis,” and mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. When sentenced, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000. The case was investigated by the EPA Criminal Investigation Division, the Alaska State Troopers, and the Maui, Hawaii Police Department, and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska in Anchorage.
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