Rick Scott Fills Wildlife Comm. Seat W. Contractor Repeatedly Cited For Toxic Spills, Violations

[hatrack]

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Roberts, 58, is an avid angler and quail hunter, the owner of a bird-hunting plantation and president of C.W. Roberts Contracting since 1976. The company's website boasts about its many government contracts for building roads and prisons. Its most high-profile project was Panama City's recently completed $325 million airport.

Roberts said when he was interviewed by Scott and the governor's staff, no one asked about his company's history of environmental infractions, including one chemical spill that required an extensive cleanup. He said he did not understand why that should have come up. "I don't see why that should be involved with fish and wildlife," Roberts said.

Ed. - emphasis added.

The paving company's website features a statement about its core values. "From the beginning, C.W. Roberts Contracting Inc. has held themselves to a higher standard than their competitors, resulting in a solid and respected reputation that precedes the organization," the website says. But there are other things in the records of the state Department of Environmental Protection. DEP officials turned over their reports on C.W. Roberts to the Times, but Roberts said they also alerted him to the newspaper's public records request.

The records show that several of Roberts' facilities failed to comply with the state's environmental rules, but in several incidents there's no record of the company facing any penalties. At the C.W. Roberts plant in Liberty County, a storage tank has leaked diesel fuel into the ground twice. Cleaning up after the second incident, in 1991, required digging up 98 tons of contaminated soil and carting it away for disposal. State records do not indicate whether Roberts' company was fined. In 2006, an inspection of the same plant found it was pumping out more air pollution than its permit allowed. This time the company paid a $500 fine. Inspectors checking the company's Citrus County plant in 2003 and twice in 2004 found so many problems that they declared it to be "major out-of-compliance" with the rules.

The company wasn't using the proper kind of storage tank for its chemicals, DEP records show. It had failed to conduct its own monthly inspections, as required by law. It had failed to mark how full the tank was. It had failed to provide a backup system in case of a spill. The DEP fined Roberts' company $3,725. A 2006 inspection of the company's Bay County operation found that a tank component that could cause a discharge of pollutants was dripping and needed repair. This year, the plant was found out of compliance again for having cracks in a berm floor. There was no indication of a punishment. And at the Panama City airport, which opened last year, DEP officials discovered Roberts' company had built a parking lot without getting a permit outlining how it would deal with stormwater runoff. However, state officials decided the lack of a permit was the fault of Roberts' client, the local airport authority, rather than the contractor.

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http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/gov-scotts-wildlife-appointee-has-history-of-environmental-infractions/1196051

[leftyohiolib]

1. and when the big disaster happens it will "we didnt know that...." or

"noone could have forseen a hurricane hitting florida and ...." elections matter.

[lib2DaBone]

2. Par for the course for pRick Scott.. Medicare thief elected Gov.

If you follow the money.. it always leads back to to the TeaPublicans, Bush family Corporations and Big $$$.

[watercolors]

3. What else can we expect, It's PRICK SCOTT!!!!