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PA FAILURE TO LEGALLY PROCESS METAL PLATING WASTES

Release Date: 08/09/96
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PA FAILURE TO LEGALLY PROCESS METAL PLATING WASTES

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1996

FAILURE TO LEGALLY PROCESS METAL PLATING WASTES RESULTS IN FEDERAL INDICTMENT OF CALIFORNIA CO. OWNER AND EMPLOYEE

On Aug. 2, a federal grand jury in Sacramento, Calif., returned an indictment charging Harley J. Weldy, owner and operator of Taylor Made Electroplating in Redding, Calif., and Arthur Meyers, Jr., a metal plater employed by Weldy, with conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act and 22 related offenses. The indictment alleges that Weldy and Meyers intentionally bypassed the company's system for treating and collecting its metal plating wastes and discharged those wastes into a sewer that led to the city of Redding's wastewater treatment plant. The indictment further states that during the months of October and November 1995, Weldy and Myers discharged highly acidic wastewater from Taylor Made's plating processes. The wastewater had a pH of between 1.4 and 2.35, and also contained levels of cadmium, nickel, copper and zinc, which exceeded federal concentration limits for discharges of metal plating wastes into publicly owned sewage treatment works. The case began when City of Redding public works employees noticed high levels of cadmium in wastewater plant sludge. Cadmium is a substance which can cause kidney and lung failure and can potentially cause cancer. In September 1995, Taylor Made was identified as the source of the heavy metal pollution by automatic samplers strategically placed in the Redding sewer system. In December 1995, a criminal search warrant was executed to obtain additional samples and other evidence. This case was jointly investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and state and local authorities.

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