Dive Brief:
- U.S. Technology Corp. (UST) of Canton, OH has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and two of its employees of concealing problems at a hazardous waste recycling site in Yazoo City, MS, costing the company millions in extra cleanup costs.
- U.S. Technology hired local recycling company Hydromex as a subcontractor to recycle waste from paint removal to make building materials at its Yazoo County plant from 2000 to 2002. Hydromex was shut down in November 2002.
- Former Hydromex owner Dennie Eugene Pridemore pleaded guilty in 2008 for his role in a scheme to defraud the federal government by dumping hazardous waste on the grounds of his Yazoo City business and claiming he was recycling it. According to the lawsuit filed by UST, the company paid Hydromex more than $1 million over 26 months to recycle spent blast material. UST said it received assurance from DEQ that the agency was visiting the Yazoo site often and approved the operation and its products.
Dive Insight:
“We cannot comment on ongoing litigation except to say the claims are without merit,” DEQ spokesman Robbie Wilbur told The Clarion-Ledger. “We are confident in the work of our staff following the laws and the regulations to ensure the environment and human health are protected.”
UST entered into agreements with the understanding that the spent blast material was recyclable. When the Mississippi Department of Transportation didn't get funding to use recycled spent blast material for its state road base project, UST wanted to move the material to another site. DEQ denied the request and said the company had until the end of 2013 to remove the material. The company then made plans to have the material shipped to Missouri, but DEQ ordered UST to cease all shipments, identifying the material as hazardous waste.
"Defendants made these false statements recklessly and with knowledge of its contrary position to prior agreements and the consequences of said statements," the lawsuit says. The company has disputed DEQ’s lab findings that the material was hazardous.
