http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...6f421840567.txtQUOTE
Details few on EPA probe
By Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, June 5, 2010 4:12 AM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — Federal, state and local officials are remaining tight-lipped on why the Environmental Protection Agency served a search warrant Thursday on the Michigan City Sanitary District concerning “environmental crimes,” but Mayor Chuck Oberlie said Friday he believes the City Council’s Utilities Committee forwarded information to the agency it thought deserved a second look.
“A judge needs probable cause to issue a search warrant, and I think some of their issues came to the forefront there,” Oberlie said.
Council member Phil Jankowski, who serves as the Utilities Committee president, said it hasn’t told authorities of any concerns since it brought some residential sewer overflows to the attention of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management about a year ago.
“Clearly, there are a lot of overflows that have not been reported,” Jankowski said, “but we have just sat back and let the EPA and IDEM do their jobs.”
IDEM has looked into several sanitary sewer overflows here over the last several months, he said.
EPA spokeswoman Phillipa Cannon said there is no danger to the public from activities at the Sanitary District, although she could not provide any further specifics of the investigation, as it is ongoing.
“I don’t know if there was a risk in the past, I can’t speak to that,” Cannon said.
Randall Ashe, special agent in charge for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago, said Thursday that 25 or 30 agents were involved in executing the search warrant, including EPA law enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard and Indiana State Police. He said the agents were seeking documents and “samples” in carrying out the search. Officials questioned many of the district’s workers and were seen lugging boxes of papers and what appeared to be computer hard drives to and from the building into the night.
The treatment plant was not shut down and is continuing operations.
Following a raw sewage overflow at B&E Marine on May 13, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management requested copies of three photos taken by a News-Dispatch reporter of the cleanup efforts. The pictures showed Sanitary District workers who appeared to be mopping up black sewage that remained on the docks.
But IDEM spokeswoman Amber Finkelstein said she spoke with Ashe and was not able to confirm whether those photos were related to the EPA’s investigation.
Michael Hoffman, Sanitary District collections superintendent, previously said the 2 inches of rain that fell in the early morning hours of May 13 caused a sewer line at B&E Marine to overflow, sending about 500 to 1,000 gallons of raw sewage spilling onto the docks.
“Obviously, one does not want to put untreated sewage in Trail Creek, ever, but the volume was fairly small,” he said then.
Sewage overflows are not an infrequent occurrence for the Sanitary District. According to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, eight sewage overflows have been reported by the district so far this year. In 2009, there were 18 overflows, Finkelstein said.
The Sanitary District also has been investigated by the Indiana Department of Labor for possible whistleblower retaliation against former District employee Ron Meer, who lost his job after being accused of going to state officials with his concerns about job safety at the plant, rather than going through the chain of command.
Oberlie said he was not aware of any Sanitary District employee who resigned or was let go as a result of the investigation so far.
“Once it is done, I expect we’ll take action on the results and recommendations they provide,” he said.
District Superintendent Al Walus also said he had no comment on the issue when a reporter asked to meet with him Friday at the Sanitary District offices. The district’s attorney, Bill Nelson, did not return a call to his office Friday.
A special Sanitary Board meeting to discuss personnel staffing levels that was rescheduled for Monday has been canceled.