FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1997                          (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
     OWNER OF OREGON SANITATION COMPANY CHARGED WITH DUMPING
      TOXIC INDUSTRIAL WASTE INTO MUNICIPAL SEWAGE TREATMENT
               PLANTS AND ATTEMPTING TO COVER IT UP


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal grand jury in Portland, Oregon
today charged the owner and operator of a sanitation company with
illegally dumping toxic industrial wastewater into two municipal
sewage treatment plants designed primarily to handle common
household sewage, and attempting to cover it up, the U.S. Justice
Department announced.

     The twelve-count felony indictment handed down today in U.S.
District Court in Portland, charged John Dilworth, Jr., the owner
and operator of Bob's Sanitary Services Inc., with knowingly
violating the federal Clean Water Act and making false statements
on a matter under the jurisdiction of an agency of the federal
government.  Bob's Sanitary Services provided sanitary waste
disposal services in the greater Portland area, where it trucked
waste from its clients to waste treatment and disposal facilities.

     "Clean water is essential to our health and well-being, and
the Justice Department will not tolerate those who knowingly break
the law and threaten our Nation's waters," said Lois Schiffer,
Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's
Environment and Natural Resources Division.  
     
     The indictment alleged that from 1992 to 1994, Dilworth
ordered his employees to illegally discharge toxic industrial
wastewater laden with lead, chromium, trichloroethylene and other
hazardous substances into the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater
Treatment Plant and the Tri-City Pollution Control Plant. 
     The indictment also alleged that the defendant intentionally
ordered his employees to falsify records to conceal the true nature
of the waste being discharged.

      The two publicly owned treatment plants are designed
primarily to process common household sewage, not toxic industrial
wastewater.  Disposing industrial waste in a sewage treatment plant
can cause water pollution in one of two ways.  Either the plant is
not designed to treat toxic industrial wastes, or the plant can
treat industrial waste but the toxic pollutants interfere with the
plant's ability to treat common sewage waste.

     The Columbia Boulevard plant discharges treated wastewater
into the Columbia River and the Tri-City plant discharges treated
wastewater into the Clackmas River.

     Each Clean Water Act count carries a maximum sentence of three
years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.  Each false statement
count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine.

     The investigation was a joint federal, state, and local
effort.  It was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Oregon Operations
Office, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the Oregon
State Police, the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental
Services, and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.  

     The case is being prosecuted by attorneys from the
Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice,
Environment and Natural Resources Division.  They include, Howard
Stewart, Senior Litigation Counsel; and Noreen McCarthy, Trial
Attorney.

     An indictment represents charges brought by a federal grand
jury and is not itself evidence.  The government has the burden of
proving the charges at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.
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97-111