BEAUMONT, TX (News Release) -
A 49-year-old Lufkin man has been sentenced for disposing of hazardous
wastes without a permit in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S.
Attorney John M. Bales today.
David
Overdorf pleaded guilty on Mar. 18, 2011, to disposing of hazardous wastes
without a permit and was fined $50,000 by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone on
Oct. 23, 2012. Overdorf was also sentenced to five years probation with
six months of home confinement.
According to
information presented in court, Overdorf was the former owner and president of
H.O.T. Transport, Inc. (HOT), a Lufkin-based chemical transportation business
which offered commercial transportation of industrial liquids such as caustics,
ethanol, methanol, hot wax, cresol, and formaldehyde.
During the normal course
of business, Overdorf directed HOT employees to wash out the interiors of
trailer mounted tanks at HOT's place of business knowing that the tanks
contained hazardous wastes. Overdorf also directed HOT employees to pump
the wash wastewater containing hazardous wastes from a catch basin into a
trailer mounted tank labeled "wastewater" at the business.
On Mar. 10,
2006, Overdorf directed a HOT employee to transport approximately 45,000 tons
of tank wash wastewater containing hazardous wastes in a trailer mounted tank
from the business to Quala Wash in Houston for disposal and authorized payment
of $450 to Clinton Promise for the disposal. These wastes possessed the
hazardous characteristic of Ignitability. This action was a direct
violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The RCRA
criminalizes the storage, transportation, or disposal of hazardous wastes
without a permit.
As part of
his plea agreement with the government, Overdorf has agreed to pay a $50,000
fine. He must also hire an independent environmental engineering firm
within four weeks to determine the full extent of soil contamination at HOT's
former business site. Overdorf must also spend up to $250,000 towards the
costs of cleaning up any contamination left at the site. HOT is no longer
in business.
This case
was investigated by the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality's Tyler and Beaumont offices. This
case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.
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2012 KTRE.
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