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Former Saybolt Official Sentenced in Reformulated Gasoline Testing Scheme
Release Date: 02/12/2004
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02/12/2004 - Thomas M. Hayes of Rockaway Township, N.J., former Vice-President of Saybolt Inc.’s Western Hemisphere Operations, was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Feb. 5 for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA). The defendant was convicted in April 2003 of conspiring to falsify oxygen and other test results on reformulated gasoline, making false statements to the EPA, committing mail fraud and obstructing justice. Between September 1992 and November 1996, the defendant and his co-conspirators falsified reformulated gasoline test results from Saybolt’s testing facilities in New Jersey and Woburn, Mass. The falsifications inflated the amount of oxygen that the gasoline actually contained, leading to the possibility that sub-standard gasoline might be sold. The CAA requires that at certain times of the year, gasoline sold in specific markets must be reformulated to contain sufficient oxygen to reduce the levels of pollutants emitted by automobiles. Reducing automobile emissions is important because high emissions lead to high atmospheric ozone levels, which increase the incidence of breathing disorders such as emphysema and asthma. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
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