Wed, 05/18/2011 - 11:43am

 

The operator of trash-to-energy facilities in three Massachusetts communities will pay a record $7.5 million fine for polluting, thanks to the relentless work of public employees at the state’s Environmental Strike Force and at the Attorney General’s office.

The state’s Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the AG’s office recently announced the enforcement action against New Hampshire-based Wheelabrator for violations involving ash disposal and the release of wastewater into wetlands at facilities in Saugus, North Andover and Millbury. The settlement followed more than 21 months of inspections and investigative work by scientists and engineers from the MassDEP, AG’s investigators and members of the Strike Force; many belong to the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists (MOSES). 

 

“I know first-hand the amount of work that went into making this case a success,” said Joe Dorant, president of MOSES, himself a 15-year veteran of the Strike Force. “The people who investigated and analyzed this case are amazing public servants who do important work that protects the citizens of the Commonwealth.”

The Massachusetts Environmental Strike Force is an interagency unit, which is overseen by AG Coakley, MassDEP Commissioner Kimmell and Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard Sullivan. The Strike Force is comprised of prosecutors and  environmental police officers assigned to the attorney general's office and investigators and engineers from the MassDEP, who investigate and prosecute crimes that harm or threaten the state's water, air or land and pose a significant threat to human health.

This case was handled by Andrew Rainer, Chief of the Massachusetts Environmental Strike Force, Chris Barry-Smith, Chief of AG Coakley's Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau, Assistant Attorneys General Betsy Harper of the Environmental Protection Division and Emily Armstrong and Matthew Connolly of the Consumer Protection Division, Financial Investigator Amanda George, officers of the Massachusetts State Police and the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

MassDEP's Environmental Strike Force spearheaded the technical investigation for this case. That team included Strike Force Director Pamela Talbot, Strike Force investigators Timothy Dame, Dana Muldoon, Stephen Spencer and Richard Tomczyk, as well as investigators and inspectors Cathy Kiley, Jennifer Macionus, Greg Levins, John Macauley, Karen Golden-Smith, John Carrigan, Dave Adams, Ed Braczyk, Cosmo Buttaro, Muhammed Ahsan, Lynn Welsh, and Maria L'Annunziata of MassDEP's regional offices.

For more details on the case, read the coverage at the Saugus Wicked Local page.