Key point IMHO of this story: Guy who worked for the company struck a deal allowing them to dispose of waste sand on his farm....ah, but what kind of waste sand? sand used to filter DRINKING WATER. Yes that's right, it was exposed daily to that horrible toxic substance that comes from the sink...


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/vall.../s_656452.html

The state has fined Calgon Carbon Corp. nearly $74,000 and asked it to remove several hundred tons of a nonhazardous material it dumped without a permit at a Washington County horse farm owned by the company's former chief counsel.

The state Department of Environmental Protection collected soil samples from Little Creek Performance Horses in Amwell on June 30, after the agency received calls from some of the farm's clients about whether a material spread on indoor and outdoor riding areas in 2005 posed a health risk, said Katherine Gresh, a DEP spokeswoman.

A fine was issued in September after the DEP tested the soil and determined the material is a nonhazardous mixture of sand and carbon used when purifying municipal drinking water, Gresh said. The Robinson-based company makes water and air purification products.

"The company (Calgon Carbon) was fined and took responsibility for removing the material from the farm because they didn't have a permit to dump it there," Gresh said.

Rick Rose, general counsel for Calgon Carbon said the incident has resulted in a change in policy at the company that forbids employees from getting personally involved in contracts. Calgon Carbon also will send all the sand carbon material it removes from plants to landfills.

The 120-acre horse farm on East Hillsboro Road is owned by Michael and Suzie Mocniak. Michael Mocniak was Calgon Carbon's chief counsel when the estimated 220 tons of material were dumped.

The Mocniaks have an unlisted home telephone number and did not respond to repeated messages left at their businesses.

In 2006, Calgon officials said Mocniak was no longer employed by the company after an internal audit found late filing of invoices that resulted in $1.2 million in losses for the company.

Rose said the material ended up on the farm after Mocniak struck a deal with one of the company's salesmen who was having difficulty finding a place to dispose of it in New Hampshire. Calgon Carbon had a contract to replace the mixture in the filters of a water treatment plant in Pennichuck, N.H.

"In most parts of the country, the stuff is disposed of by selling or giving it to local landscapers and no permit is needed," Rose said. "Our salesman doesn't do work in Pennsylvania and wasn't aware that a permit was needed to dump it here. An error was made. It was a mistake."

*snip*
That's our tax dollars hard at work, protecting us from non-hazardous (by their own admission) mixtures of sand and charcoal used to filter municipal drinking water

Even better, they're making them remove it (220 TONS of dirt) from the farm and dispose of it in a landfill because they didn't have a permit to dump it on the farm...why would you even need a permit to dump NON-HAZARDOUS DIRT in the first place?!?!