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PA DEVELOPER GETS 21 MONTHS FOR CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS

Release Date: 04/04/97
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PA DEVELOPER GETS 21 MONTHS FOR CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 1997

DEVELOPER GETS 21 MONTHS FOR CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS

Denny Moore of South Williamson, Ky., was sentenced on March 30, in U.S. District Court in Huntington, W.Va., to 21 months in prison for his conviction on four counts of violating the federal Clean Water Act. A federal jury convicted Moore on Dec. 16, 1996, of allowing the discharge of raw sewage from the treatment plant at the Shady Woods subdivision near Muncy, W.Va. As part of the conveyance of each lot, Moore, the developer of Shady Woods, had required approximately 45 homeowners in the subdivision to use a common sewage treatment plant which he owned and operated. In April 1994, Moore abandoned the sewage treatment plant and allowed raw sewage to be discharged into Pigeon Creek. In May 1994, a West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection inspector conducted a test which indicated that the plant had discharged raw sewage containing fecal coliform levels of 23 million counts per 100 milliliters. The maxim allowable level under the plant's permit was 400 counts per 100 milliliters. Fecal coliform is a bacterial byproduct of improperly treated sewage and its presence is an indicator for other microorganisms which can cause such diseases as candidiasis, giardiasis, cholera, salmonellosis, shigellosis, typhoid fever, viral gastroenteritis, hepatitis A and polio in humans. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection.

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