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Thread: Eyeglass lens manufacturing company admits to unlawfully discharging hazardous waste

  1. #1
    Master OptiBoarder rbaker's Avatar
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    Eyeglass lens manufacturing company admits to unlawfully discharging hazardous waste

    Eyeglass lens manufacturing company admits to unlawfully discharging hazardous waste




    Carl Zeiss Vision Inc. in Clackamas, Oregon, through its general counsel, on Thursday pleaded guilty to violating federal regulations requiring treatment of pollutants before U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon in U.S. District Court in Portland.

    An eyeglass lens manufacturer admitted in federal court Thursday to repeatedly discharging hazardous waste into Clackamas County's sewer system in violation of the federal Clean Water Act and faces a fine from $75,000 to $750,000.


    Carl Zeiss Vision operated for three years without a required industrial wastewater discharge permit and allowed untreated corrosive liquid waste that included cadmium and lead to seep into a public sanitary sewer connection that fed into the county's water service sewer system, according to prosecutors and federal agents.


    The Clackamas company, through its general counsel, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of violating federal regulations requiring treatment of pollutants. The charge covered violations that occurred over 30 days from June to July 2015.
    Sentencing is set for April 23.


    The plea followed an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after a maintenance worker from the company filed a complaint in 2014. The agency conducted a search warrant at the company in 2015. The company is located at 14450 S.E. 98th Court.
    Logan Lupi, the maintenance worker, contacted the EPA office in Seattle and said he watched Carl Zeiss Vision employees at the end of the night shift dump a bucket of an alloy and waste water down the drain. Lupi included in his complaint a photo of a plastic drain containing a metallic-looking substance, according to a search warrant affidavit.


    It was Lupi's job to clean out the drain when it became clogged about every other month, he told agents.


    The EPA investigator determined that the compound in the drain contained different metals, including cadmium and lead. Lupi also reported workers dumping gallons of a polish and tints used to color lenses down the drain.


    Lupi was fired in December 2014. Another fired maintenance worker, Tom Edwards, also assisted in the investigation.


    Their information led the EPA to install recording monitors in the sanitary sewer line where the company discharged its waste, according to the search warrant affidavit by Eric Martenson, special agent with EPA's criminal investigation division. The monitors found the company was discharging corrosive liquid wastes above permitted Ph levels.


    The government alleged the company discharged the pollutants from 2008 through today, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Bounds said in court.


    The plea agreement followed more than a year of negotiations between the company and prosecutors. The company's board of directors and general counsel, Nathan Cooper, signed off on it.

    "There's no question we did not have a pre-treatment permit during this period,'' said Peter Anderson, another lawyer representing the company. But the company may challenge at sentencing whether the permit was required and allegations that the violations were continuous, he said.

    The company also will argue for a fine of less than $100,000, Anderson said, and will cite cases of other companies convicted of felony waste treatment offenses that haven't been fined as much.

  2. #2
    Manuf. Lens Surface Treatments
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    Blue Jumper The plea followed an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.......


    The Clackamas company, through its general counsel, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of violating federal regulations requiring treatment of pollutants. The charge covered violations that occurred over 30 days from June to July 2015.
    Sentencing is set for April 23.


    The plea followed an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
    after a maintenance worker from the company filed a complaint in 2014. The agency conducted a search warrant at the company in 2015.



    ............................most probably some disgruntled worker for some reason or another made the complaint.

    .....................and one year later they checked for the pollution and found it.



    The company also will argue for a fine of less than $100,000, Anderson said, and will cite cases of other companies convicted of felony waste treatment offenses that haven't been fined as much.
    ................some good advice for a corporation as big, old and rich as Zeiss:

    ............next time some unlawful operations are underway, use the directors to do the job and not workers that might have asked for a refused salary increase.

  3. #3
    Manuf. Lens Surface Treatments
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    Blue Jumper investigation culminated in a federal search at eyeglass lens maker .................

    I just had to find some more and got to originating report of 2 years ago.


    Carl Zeiss Vision investigated for chemical dumping

    Investigation began when employee called EPA in 2014

    Cole Miller and KOIN 6 News StaffPublished:
    September 17, 2015, 6:07 pm Updated: September 18, 2015, 12:43 am

    CLACKAMAS, Ore. (KOIN) — A nearly year-long investigation culminated in a federal search at eyeglass lens maker Carl Zeiss Vision in Clackamas.
    EPA agents searched Carl Zeiss Vision in Clackamas over alleged chemical dumping, Sept. 10, 2015 (KOIN)

    The September 10 search by the Environmental Protection Agency was checking on possible “illegal discharges of liquid corrosive wastes” into the Clackamas County water system. The EPA alleges Zeiss does not have a county water system permit for industrial wastewater.

    “They just overlooked the legality involved of how to treat this chemical, how to properly treat this chemical,” former Carl Zeiss Vision maintenance employee Logan Lupi told KOIN 6 News. “They ignored that.”

    Zeiss makes optical lenses for many retailers, including Walmart, and employs about 130 people in Clackamas.

    The unsealed search warrant revealed the investigation began October 6, 2014 when Lupi contacted the EPA in Seattle. He told them Zeiss was dumping a chemical down a drain and provided photographs.
    “A lot of workers there, English is not their first language,” Lupi said. “They’re very intimidated that if they say anything they think they’re going to get fired.”

    FULL SEARCH WARRANT ON ORIGINAL COPY,SEE ATTACHMENT


    Over the course of the next 11 months, the EPA worked with the Clackamas County Water Environment Service system and monitored the wastewater discharge from Zeiss.
    “I don’t even know how many chemicals, I only thought there wasmaybe a couple,” Lupi said. “I didn’t realize it was that many.”
    Readings in July 2015 showed “distinct discharges from Zeiss in violation of the Clean Water Act on 14 different days,” the search warrant states.


    A number of items related to the discharge were taken during the search on September 10,including note books, drains, lab coatings and chemicals.
    A spokesperson for Carl Zeiss Vision told KOIN 6 News they “haveno comment on the situation.”

    The investigation continues.


    Source:
    http://koin.com/2015/09/17/epa-searc...emical-dumping

  4. #4
    Compulsive Truthteller OptiBoard Gold Supporter Uncle Fester's Avatar
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    Page 8 of Chris' link has the details I was wondering.

    Now it goes away and they take more care with the stuff.

    Germany I've read, sends its hazardous waste to Italy's Mafia controlled regions where they dump them and are now contaminating their own towns drinking water. Go figure...

    Is greed a deadly sin? Siri isn't handy.

  5. #5
    Master Jedi King of the Lab's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uncle Fester View Post
    Is greed a deadly sin? Siri isn't handy.
    Of course. Haven't you seen the movie Se7en?
    Erik Zuniga, ABOC.

  6. #6
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Visited that lab back in probably 2012 or 13. Nice folks, if a bit full of themselves and their "tech". VERY good beer in that town, and the lab crew certainly knew how to host a few of us from out of town. :) Glad they got their hands slapped - albeit very lightly - and hope they have stopped the contamination into the water. Woudn't want to poison the beer with dirty lead water!!

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