SIGNAL HILL : 3 Executives Plead Innocent to Polluting
Three executives of a crude-oil cleaning and storage facility have pleaded innocent to charges that they dumped toxic rainwater onto city streets in 1993.
A hearing was scheduled for April 25 in Long Beach Municipal Court for the Petroleum Recycling Corp. officials--Richard Davis McAuley, president; Ronald R. Daerr, compliance officer; and Mark James Vigeant, plant manager.
In January, the district attorney’s office filed a 38-count felony and misdemeanor complaint against the company and its three executives for allegedly dumping 200,000 gallons of tainted rainwater into a drain near the company’s East 29th Street facility.
Police investigators said the water flowed onto a city street, into a storm drain and eventually into Marine Stadium waterway and Alamitos Bay. Police said the water contained benzene and dichloromethane, which have been identified as carcinogens.
The executives contend they tested the water, found it to be clean, and received the proper permits for storm water discharge.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Fred E. Macksoud said the charges carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each of the officers and fines to the company of $100,000 for each of the nearly seven days in January, 1993, that the alleged violations took place.
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