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Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Environment - "Prison for toxic polluter;" Hassan Barrel site in Fort Wayne

An ILB entry from July 4, 2007 quotes an AP story headed "Company president indicted over toxic waste storage."

Today Rebecca S. Green reports in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

Before he was sentenced for causing millions of dollars in damage with toxic waste, Alan D. Hersh had plenty to say.

He chatted with attorneys and investigators inside the massive U.S. District Court room Monday afternoon, talking about driving with his dog in the car and making small talk about Indiana industry.

But when U.S. District Judge Theresa Springmann asked him whether he had anything to say before she sentenced him to 15 months in federal prison and ordered him to start paying immediately on $1.7 million in restitution, Hersh fell silent.

And when approached in the hallway after his hearing for comment on the environmental disaster he created at the former Fort Wayne-based Hassan Barrel Co., he offered no more than a grunt and a dismissive wave of his hand.

So the last word went to Springmann, who in court and in a 12-page sentencing memorandum found Hersh's remorse and understanding of the damage he caused less than complete or convincing. * * *

[The] crime involved walking away from the company's 7-acre Summer Street site, leaving thousands of barrels leaking paint wastes and caustic chemicals and open pits where the company apparently dumped hazardous material into the ground, according to court documents.

The Hassan Barrel site was a few blocks from Adams Elementary School. The soil at the abandoned facility is contaminated with what leaked from the barrels, including butanone, ethyl-benzene and toluene, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury. The chemicals cause a range of health problems from cancer to kidney and liver damage and lung problems.

At last tally in November, the Environmental Protection Agency had spent $1.7 million on cleanup at the site.

Here are earlier ILB entries on Hassan Barrel.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 3, 2009 12:33 PM
Posted to Environment | Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions