Other LanguagesCompany accused of dumping tens of thousands of gallons of untreated wastewater
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that his office filed charges today against the owner of a Seattle fuel tank processing facility for allegedly dumping oil and sludge into the public sewer system.
Thomas Wise is charged in King County Superior Court with first-degree defrauding a public utility, unlawful dumping of solid waste without a permit and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant.
“Clean water is vital to the health and safety of Washington residents and protecting it is one of my top priorities,” Ferguson said. “I won’t tolerate businesses taking shortcuts at the expense of our environment.”
Wise is accused of using an illicit connection to a sanitary sewer line on the Tank Wise, LLC property in South Seattle to illegally discharge industrial waste (oil and oil sludge) removed from underground storage tanks. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted the investigation.
Seattle Public Utilities told the EPA on March 12, 2014, it had found an improper connection to a sanitary sewer line in South Seattle, near the Duwamish River.
On March 27, 2014, an SPU inspector at the Tank Wise facility found evidence of oil, sludge and diesel fuel in a discharge pipe that should have contained only treated water.
Wise estimated just under 20,000 gallons of wastewater was illegally dumped between 2012 and 2013. In addition, SPU officials told EPA criminal investigators the connection may have been used as long as eight years to unlawfully dump waste.
The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless or until he or she is proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Ferguson has made prosecuting environmental crimes a priority of his administration. In September, he announced he will sue the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors in order to protect workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation from dangerous chemical vapors. In 2014, he secured $444,000 in restitution from owners of derelict vessels polluting Washington waterways.
The Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case with the concurrence of the King County Prosecutor’s Office. The lead prosecutor is Assistant Attorney General Joshua Choate.
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The Office of the Attorney General is the chief legal office for the state of Washington with attorneys and staff in 27 divisions across the state providing legal services to roughly 200 state agencies, boards and commissions. Attorney General Bob Ferguson is working hard to protect consumers and seniors against fraud, keep our communities safe, protect our environment and stand up for our veterans. Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.
Contact:
Peter Lavallee, Communications Director, (360) 586-0725; PeterL@atg.wa.gov