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PA UTAH MANUFACTURER TO PAY $1 MILLION FOR CLEAN WATER VIOLATION
Release Date: 12/11/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, DEC. 11, 1998
UTAH MANUFACTURER TO PAY $1 MILLION FOR CLEAN WATER VIOLATION
Compeq International Inc., which operates a circuit board manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City, plead guilty to three felony violations of the federal Clean Water Act in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah in Salt Lake City. The charges filed against Compeq alleged that the company had violated pretreatment standards when it illegally discharged waste water containing copper, a toxic pollutant, in concentrations that were sometimes 1,000 times over its permit limits. The facility is connected to a sewer system operated by the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities. Excessive discharges of copper can harm sewage treatments plants as well as the environment. On Dec. 4, Compeq agreed to spend $1.8 million to upgrade its on-site wastewater treatment equipment to stay in compliance with its pollution discharge permit. In addition to a $1 million fine, Compeq has agreed to make voluntary contributions of $150,000 to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s Hazardous Substance Mitigation Fund;
$150,000 to the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities: and $50,000 to the Western States Project, a consortium of 13 western states, involved in criminal and civil enforcement of environmental laws. The case was investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
R-166 ###
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