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CALIFORNIAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL ASBESTOS REMOVAL

Release Date: 01/04/2002
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2002

CALIFORNIAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL ASBESTOS REMOVAL

Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818 / [email protected]


A. Scott Dockter was sentenced to five months in prison and seven months home detention and was ordered to pay $9,270 in fines and restitution for unlawfully removing asbestos during the demolition and renovation of the Delta Sugar Plant in Clarksburg, Calif., in 1995. In violation of the Clean Air Act, Dockter failed to provide a 10-day written notice to EPA of his intention to demolish and renovate a facility that contained asbestos, to use controls to keep asbestos fibers from becoming airborne, such as wetting them down, to carefully lower all stripped asbestos after it was removed, to ensure that all asbestos was kept wet until collected and properly contained for disposal and to dispose of the asbestos at an EPA-approved disposal site. Allowing asbestos fibers to become airborne by improper removal and disposal can lead to their inhalation. Inhaling asbestos is a cause of lung cancer, a lung disease known as A asbestosis @ and mesothelioma, a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. The case was investigated by EPA=s Criminal Investigation Division and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney =s Office in Sacramento.

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