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CONNECTICUT COMPANY PLEADED GUILTY TO ILLEGAL HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL
Release Date: 01/08/99
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1999
CONNECTICUT COMPANY PLEADED GUILTY TO ILLEGAL
HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL
Cover-It Inc., of West Haven, Conn., pleaded guilty on Dec. 16, 1998 in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in Hartford for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Cover-It manufactures portable garage shelters. The indictment alleges that on March 7, 1997, two of the company's workers stripped, defaced and painted over the labels of drums containing hazardous waste to prevent their point of origin from being identified. Some of the drums, which held several hundred gallons of waste containing hazardous levels of chromium, were then allegedly illegally dumped from a truck and abandoned on the ground near the Secondi Brothers Truck Stop in Milford, Conn., and the New Haven Terminal shipyard. As part of the plea agreement, Cover-it has agreed to pay $12,749 for the cost of cleaning up the dumped waste. The company also has agreed to retain an independent environmental consultant and come into compliance with all environmental regulations. Cover-It faces a maximum fine of up to $500,000 and/or up to three years probation. Two Cover-It employees, James Hawley and Michael Knapp, face trial within the next several months. The case was investigated by EPA Criminal Investigation Division, EPA National Enforcement Investigations Center, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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