(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost today announced that a Pennsylvania company must pay restitution and fines totaling $30,000 for exceeding the allowable amount of hazardous waste stored at its facility in Cuyahoga County.
“This company had three times the permitted limit for highly flammable and dangerous hazardous waste, which is unacceptable,” Attorney General Yost said. “This is an example of a bad company that didn’t follow the rules put in place to protect the public and environment.”
Tier Environmental LLC pleaded guilty Wednesday to a single felony charge of recklessly violating a hazardous waste permit issued under Chapter 3734 of the Ohio Revised Code. The company operated a hazardous waste transfer, storage and disposal facility in Bedford, Ohio, from 2013 through 2017.
Regulatory inspections by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and a criminal investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. EPA found the company exceeded its permitted storage capacity by more than 130,000 gallons of hazardous waste between March and May of 2015.
Judge Brian J. Corrigan of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court ordered the company to pay restitution of $20,000 to the Ohio EPA and BCI for investigative costs. The company also must pay a $25,000 fine, with $15,000 of the amount suspended.
In November, the company’s president and vice president pleaded no contest to charges of criminal endangering, a second-degree misdemeanor. The Bedford Municipal Court found them guilty and ordered each to pay a $500 fine, $3,100 in restitution and complete 40 hours of community service.
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