Long Island Titanium Manufacturer and Its Owner/Operator Indicted

[Omaha Steve]

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=71995

Long Island Titanium Manufacturer and Its Owner/Operator Indicted for Environmental Crimes

9/7/2006 7:40:00 PM


Contact: Robert Nardoza of the U.S. Department of Justice, 718-254-6323; http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye

NEW YORK, Sept. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Lawrence Aviation Industries Inc. (LAI), and its owner and operator, Gerald Cohen, were indicted on federal criminal charges for illegally storing 11,690 kilograms -- over 11 tons -- of corrosive hazardous waste in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and illegally operating two diesel generators in violation of the Clean Air Act, at LAI's principal place of business in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y. In a separate action, the United States filed a civil lawsuit against LAI, Cohen, and six parcels of land, under the federal Superfund statute to recover over $8 million in clean-up costs previously incurred by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at LAI's manufacturing facility and a judgment of liability for future clean-up costs to be incurred at the LAI site.

Cohen was arrested this morning and is scheduled to be arraigned later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Boyle, at the U.S. Courthouse, Federal Plaza, Central Islip, N.Y.

The indictment was announced by Roslynn R. Mauskopf, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Alan J. Steinberg, EPA Regional Administrator; and Mark J. Mershon, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office. The civil complaint was announced by Ms. Mauskopf and Mr. Steinberg.

As alleged in the indictment unsealed this morning, LAI began operating at the Port Jefferson Station site in 1959 and manufactured titanium sheets used primarily in the aeronautics industry. Cohen became the sole owner and operator of LAI in 1982. Part of the manufacturing process required the use of large tanks containing corrosive acid and base liquids. The indictment charges that several years prior to April 2003, LAI stopped using two of the tanks in the manufacturing operations, and instead used them to store liquids and sludge. In 2003, personnel from EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) tested the contents of the two tanks and determined that they contained corrosive hazardous waste. The indictment alleges that LAI and Cohen violated RCRA because the contents of the two tanks had not been disposed of in a timely manner and had been stored without a permit from EPA or DEC.

FULL story at link above.

[BrotherBuzz]

1. Disposing of hazardous waste legally really cuts into the profit.

You know what I mean, Vern?