Columbia Man Sentenced in Federal Court for Dumping Hazardous Waste into Creek

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Michael Greene, age 45, of Columbia, was sentenced to 90 days in federal prison and fined $25,000, after pleading guilty to violating the Clean Water Act.  United States District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs presided.

Facts presented to the court showed Greene worked for an environmental company offering hazardous waste disposal services.  Greene’s job was to transport the liquid runoff from solid waste at an Eastover landfill to the Florence Wastewater Management Facility.  Instead, he illegally dumped the liquid runoff, or ‘leachate,’ into the Leesburg Branch Creek on multiple occasions in mid-2017.    

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorney Winston David Holliday, Jr., of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.

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