Contaminants

Michigan polluter ordered to jail for illegally discharging untreated waste

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By Eric Freedman

A federal judge has sentenced a Flint, Michigan, polluter to one year behind bars for illegally discharging more than 47 million gallons of untreated waste into the city’s sewer system. Robert Massey, the 70-year-old president and owner of family-owned Oil Chem Inc., pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act over an 8½ year period between 2007 and 2015. “That amounts to over 72 Olympic-size swimming pools. The crime was driven by greed. Oil Chem received over a million dollars to dispose of the (material),” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its sentencing memorandum to U.S. District Judge Stephanie Davis.

Echo

Neighbors at war

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By Eric Freedman

Jennifer Cook initially got along amicably with her neighbors in rural Bartholomew County, Indiana. But that relationship went downhill when the neighbors, Brian and Katrina Brumley, bought a Great Pyrenees puppy to protect their poultry, goats, miniature horse and miniature donkey from coyotes, foxes and bobcats, according to legal documents in Cook’s unsuccessful appeal of her stalking conviction for harassing the Brumleys with recorded animal noises. The dog, which reached 130 pounds, sometimes broke free of its restraints, ran loose, defecated in Cook’s yard and barked while confined, but it didn’t bite anyone or act aggressively, the Indiana Court of Appeals said in a recent opinion. “In an effort to muffle the barking, the Brumleys tried moving the dog to various areas on the property farther from Cook’s house,” the court said. To no avail.