Owner Jailed for 45 Days for Asbestos-Related Environmental Violations

A company removed asbestos from buildings, and bagged and stored it in trailers. The company owner was personally responsible for putting the bags of asbestos in the trailers. When the company developed financial problems, it abandoned the trailers. The MOE also found hundreds of bags of asbestos and demolition waste at the owner’s home. The MOE issued him an order requiring him to hire a Qualified Person to prepare a report to clean up the sites, but he failed to comply. So he pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the order. The court fined him and ordered him to move the asbestos waste to an approved site within 30 days. But he didn’t comply with the court order. As a result, the owner was convicted of violating the Environmental Protection Act by failing to comply with a court order to remove the asbestos waste and was sentenced to 45 days’ jail [Christopher Joyce, Govt. News Release, Jan. 14, 2016].