Judge sends Oregon polluter to federal prison
Friday, June 6, 2008 10:48 AM PDT
PORTLAND (AP) — In a rare prison sentence for an environmental crime, the owner of a company that repeatedly mishandled waste oil and other hazardous material has been sentenced to six months in a federal penitentiary.
Donald Spencer will also pay a maximum $150,000 fine on behalf of his former company, Spencer Environmental Inc.
In a separate case, a former Spencer Environmental plant manager was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of obstructing justice and giving a false statement in the death of a Spencer employee. Spencer was convicted of failing to dispose properly of thousands of gallons of used oil, much of it dumped into a large open pit in southeast Portland. His company was also convicted of illegal treatment and disposal of wastewater contaminated with highly corrosive hydrofluoric acid.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton said the mishandled waste was the source of a catastrophic fire and was implicated in the case of a worker who ‘‘died a horrible death — with his lungs gradually disintegrating.’’
