Sept. 6, 2002 -- Koppers Industries Inc., of Philadelphia, Pa., pleaded guilty on Aug. 22 to two felony violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and one felony violation of the Clean Air Act (CAA) in a Birmingham, Ala., U.S. District Court.
The convictions resulted from releases of hazardous air and water pollutants, which exceeded permitted limits, at the company's coke production and coal by-products facility in Dolomite, Ala.
The facility was later dismantled in 1998. Koppers operated a waste-water treatment plant at the Dolomite facility and also had a storm-water discharge point source permit, which required it to limit the amount of ammonia in its water discharges.
The company also was required to submit discharge monitoring reports to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) indicating the level of pollutants contained in its water discharges based upon test results. Koppers admitted that its employees had allowed the discharge of wastewater, which exceeded the permitted level of ammonia in January 1997.
In March 1997, its employees knowingly submitted a false report to ADEM which understated the level of ammonia contained in the discharge to conceal the fact that Koppers had violated its permit limits. The CAA violation occurred when a gas blanketing system at the Dolomite facility was improperly operated from April 1-11, 1997.
If accepted by the court, the plea calls for Koppers to pay a $2.1 million fine, pay $900,000 in restitution and community service and implement an environmental compliance program at its plants in the United States.
The release of ammonia to surface waters can significantly harm fish and wildlife and exposure to benzene is a known cause of cancer.
Daniel Bell of Birmingham, Ala., Koppers' former Environmental Manager, previously pleaded guilty to a CWA felony charge. This case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Birmingham and the Department of Justice's Environmental Crimes Section.
For more information, visit www.epa.gov.
